ST. LOUIS — The jury trial began Tuesday for Daniel Riley, the man accused of striking a Tennessee teen and severing both of her legs last year in downtown St. Louis. The jury found him guilty on all but one misdemeanor assault charge Thursday night.
The story got national attention and also spotlighted mounting criticism of the office of former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, ending with her resignation in May 2023. Legal experts said the trial could have a big impact on the future of public safety in the city.
Here are some of the new details we've learned during the trial.
Day 3
Janae Edmondson and her mother, Marilyn "Francine" Edmondson, took the witness stand Thursday morning.
Janae recalled being in the crosswalk with her parents, seeing Riley's car coming fast toward them and telling her father to "watch out" before they turned and ran back toward the sidewalk.
"I felt something hit me, and it was warm …" she told the jury. "I ended up on my stomach, face down. I was screaming because I couldn't feel my body, and I was just in pain."
Her mother told the jury about being frozen in shock until her husband started yelling for a belt from bystanders to create a tourniquet. Seeing her daughter's eyes, she said she was terrified her daughter would die in the street.
Janae recounted her father tying a belt tightly around her legs while her mother held her face and told her, "Don't close your eyes. You have to stay awake." She kept repeating those words back to herself when she was taken away in an ambulance without her parents, and she said her eyes were open all the way to the hospital.
Janae went into detail about the long, ongoing recovery process, from 23 surgeries and countless bandages that would rip off new skin when changed creating a constant open wound, to phantom pains and exhausting physical therapy.
"(The healing process) was just awful," she said. "I had stabbing pain all throughout my legs. I was numb a majority of the time I was in the hospital and even coming out and even now. My legs are still numb in places."
It was also difficult mentally for an active and sociable teen who played both basketball and volleyball.
"I became depressed," she told the jury. "It was stabbing pain down my back and into my legs and my hips … I just couldn't deal with it anymore … I felt hopeless because I couldn't do anything except for to deal with it."
Later Thursday morning, Riley waived his right to testify.
His attorney, Dan Diemer, then called four witnesses to the stand including two police officers, an accident reconstruction expert and the passenger who was riding inside a white Malibu that Riley collided with before slamming into Janae and flipping onto the roof of his car.
One of the officers told jurors he is a 37-year veteran of the police department and teared up on the stand saying he responded to the scene on the night of the crash, but did not want to look at Janae's injuries knowing how traumatic they were.
The passenger who was riding inside the car Riley collided with told jurors Riley came to check on her following the crash, asking if she was OK.
The defense's accident reconstruction expert gave an estimation of how fast Riley and the other vehicle were going at the time of the crash which conflicted with the prosecution's expert.
He said Riley had to be going 35 to 39 mph at the time of impact with the other car and not 45 mph as the prosecution's expert contended. He also estimated the driver of the other car was going 35 mph in the 25 mph zone.
Assistant Circuit Attorney Adam Field sparred with the expert on the stand, calling his calculations into question and stating mathematically it is impossible for Riley to have covered as much ground as he did going that slow.
Assistant Circuit Attorney Tanja Engelhardt began closing arguments by telling jurors Riley made a series of choices to act recklessly.
Diemer countered that the law requires Riley to have known his actions will cause serious harm -- not could cause serious harm. He also nodded to the emotional testimony Janae and her mother gave on the stand.
"Emotions are not evidence," he said. "They have to prove Daniel knew his actions were certain to do this, not that they could result but that they will."
He also argued the police investigation into the crash was flawed, because officers did not entertain any other possible scenarios or how the driver of the second vehicle could be at fault.
He also argued his client's demeanor was nonchalant because no one told him about Janae's injuries and he didn't know she had been hurt at the scene, so he didn't try to help her. He said his client asked officers for his cellphone at the scene, because he had just been in an accident and needed his phone.
Engelhardt had the last word as is custom when the state has the burden of proof.
She told jurors: "From what we’ve heard about his behavior that night, he was an entitled, selfish and reckless young man and we can’t have drivers like that in our city. Take a stand today. Are you going to stand with what’s right? Or are you going to stand with the defendant?"
Diemer objected, but Engelhardt was finished.
The jury began its deliberations at about 3 p.m. They deliberated for just over three hours before returning with the verdict of guilty on all but one misdemeanor assault charge.
The jury recommended Riley be sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison for second-degree assault; 11 years, 8 months in prison for armed criminal action charge; and 10 months in the St. Louis City Justice Center for fourth-degree assault charge.
Judge Michael Noble will decide if Riley's sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently at hearing on April 18.
Day 2
Following the crash, Daniel Riley's demeanor was "calm," "nonchalant" and "non-remorseful," multiple police officers said during testimony Wednesday.
Despite the seriousness of the crash, Riley was more concerned about whether he was being charged and if he was going to be released than Janae's condition, they said. His defense lawyer argued it was normal to ask those kinds of questions when being arrested.
A blood sample was taken from Riley at the hospital after the crash, and Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab Toxicologist Gary Davis shared the blood tested negative for alcohol but positive for THC, fentanyl and codeine.
Prescribed for severe pain, fentanyl can cause drowsiness and a state of relaxation that makes it difficult to remain conscious, Davis said. THC can cause dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, loss of awareness and difficulty with divided-attention tasks like driving. Codeine, an opiate that is similar to fentanyl but less strong, can cause drowsiness and confusion.
Officers testified that Riley had told them he had yielded at the sign on St. Charles Street and was going only 20 mph when the other driver came out of nowhere and struck him, making him lose control of his vehicle. He said he "must have blacked out" during the crash with his foot on the accelerator.
Crash data from Riley's vehicle showed he accelerated with 100% throttle from 5 mph to 45 mph in the five seconds before colliding with the other vehicle, an accident reconstruction expert said.
The other driver was going 29 mph and started breaking, with a speed of 26 mph upon impact. Based on visibility, the expert said the other driver would not have enough time to respond and avoid impact.
Day 1
Janae Edmondson and her parents were just a few feet away from their rental car when the crash happened.
Janae's father, James Edmondson, said Tuesday while on the witness stand that the family's Nissan Rogue was parked on St. Charles Street. Janae had just finished her last game in a volleyball tournament at The Dome, and she and her parents were deciding what to grab for dinner before going back to their hotel.
Janae’s father used his military training to help save Janae's life in the minutes after the crash.
Having served over a decade in the military, James said his military training took over when he saw his daughter's legs had been traumatically amputated. He quickly stopped the bleeding with tourniquets made using belts from two bystanders. "I knew she had seconds, not minutes," he said. "My mind just kind of blocked everything out."
Fentanyl, codeine and THC were found in Dan Riley’s blood following the crash, Assistant Circuit Attorney Andrew Field revealed to the jury during opening statements Tuesday.
A toxicologist with the Missouri State Highway Patrol will share the blood test results later in the trial. Field said Riley's decisions leading up to the crash and demeanor with officers afterward displayed a "complete and utter disregard for the value of human life."
The defense's argument is centered on police having an emotional response to seeing Janae and ignoring the other driver at the scene who T-boned Riley's car.
"Daniel Riley was hit broadside by the Malibu in the left rear of the Audi, rendering him incapable of controlling the vehicle from that point forward..." his lawyer, Daniel Diemer, said during opening statements. "The Malibu hit the Audi with such force as to make it leave the ground."
Diemer said police interviews with the other driver were never recorded on bodycams and her speed at the time of the crash was never recorded.
Although she was not in court Tuesday, Janae Edmondson is expected to be the prosecution's last witness to take the stand.
The trial is expected to last through the week, and it wasn't clear when she would be called on to testify.
Check back for updates as the trial continues.
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