Thaindian News

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (BNO NEWS) – A Toyota Camry that was driven by Koua Fong Lee in a 2006 motor vehicle accident that killed three people is being inspected for defects, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Lee was driving his Toyota Camry in June 2006 when it unexpectedly accelerated, crashing into another car and killing Javis Adams, 33, his son Javis Adams Jr., 10, and his niece Devyn Bolton, 7. After being convicted of criminal vehicular homicide in October 2007, Lee was sentenced to eight years in prison, but a two day inspection of the vehicle began Tuesday morning at the St. Paul Police Department impound lot to determine any defects.

“It is our firm belief that Mr. Lee did everything he could to stop his car that day, and that the well-documented problems with his Toyota are the true culprit here,” attorney Robert Hilliard said. “Once the results of this inspection are known, we hope Mr. Lee will be quickly granted a new trial so a jury can hear all of the facts of this case,” he added.

Hilliard and Brent Shafer of Minneapolis, Minnesota requested inspection of the vehicle last month in a new trial. The petition includes nearly two dozen documents from individuals that experienced sudden, unintended acceleration in older model Toyota vehicles, including several owners of the same 1996 Toyota Camry model as Lee.

The inspection will be handled by an automotive expert hired by Lee’s attorneys and a mechanical engineer hired by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Lee’s Toyota Camry was subject to a limited recall based on a cruise-control problem that caused the cars to unintentionally accelerate, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received numerous reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles from the 1996 model year.