Tallahassee, Florida April 9, 2024, The Case of Calvin Riley, a Tallahassee man charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license continued Monday, April 8, 2024, after a lengthy day in court on Friday, April 5, 2024. The trial was slated to take one day, and the defense filed a Motion to Dismiss late Thursday evening, which the Judge denied on Friday. The trial moved slowly due to questions surrounding the ability to seat a fair and impartial jury, Motions filed by attorneys and several court approved sidebars.
On May 7, 2023, Calvin Riley was pulled over by Tallahassee Police Officer Kiersten Oliver for a routine traffic stop. After a brief investigation, the police discovered Mr. Riley was driving with a suspended license. Mr. Riley was asked to perform a sobriety test, which he declined. Officer Oliver called for backup. Mr. Riley was then placed in handcuffs for driving with a suspended license. The jury also heard, on police bodycam, Officer Riley stating she noticed the smell of marijuana on Mr. Riley's person while she was escorting him to her police cruiser.
Mr. Riley’s defense attorneys are arguing that Mr. Riley was placed in the back of a police cruiser, while Officer Oliver returned to Mr. Riley’s car, opened a sealed bottle of liquor, and poured the liquid out. Officer Oliver then proceeded to toss the empty bottle back into the car. It is also noted that the officer did not find any marijuana in Mr. Riley’s car. A Police Sergeant arrived at the scene and Officer Oliver told him there was a “bunch of alcohol stashed” in the car, there was an open container in Mr. Riley’s vehicle and that the evidence was captured on her body worn camera.
Officer Oliver testified on Friday afternoon that the encounter with Mr. Riley was a learning experience, and admitted after watching the bodycam video that she broke the seal of the bottle of liquor in error due to her inexperience as a police officer.
The judge was not pleased with having to extend Trial until Monday, due to the numerous errors the State’s Prosecution team made. One grave error surrounded the redacted bodycam video the state wanted to introduce into evidence. The defense questioned the redaction, and the judge ordered a correction and then ordered the Prosecutors to proceed with whatever evidence they had. The judge did not show favor to the defense either, overruling several objections made by the defense, including the objection over admitting Mr. Riley’s home address into the record as evidence for the jury.
Officer Mueth was on the scene and was heard on her bodycam video stating to a superior officer that Mr. Calvin had an open container of liquor in his car, collaborating and covering up for Officer Oliver’s actions of opening the sealed liquor bottle. However, Mueth testified in court on Monday, the following:
"Yes, so the open Tervis in the center console indicates that they were actively drinking and driving the bottle of liquor found indicates that once they were done finishing the drink in the center console, maybe they opened the bottle and refill their drink."
The defense argued that the actions of the officers are irrelevant because Mr. Riley was guilty of DUI and the decision to arrest him was due to his belligerent behavior, slurred speech, and blurry blood shot eyes.
The jury did not spend much time deliberating on Monday afternoon before delivering a guilty verdict and the Judge sentencing Mr. Riley to 6 months of probation, months of probation(about 1 and a half weeks) in jail, 150 hours (about 2 days) of community service, Driver’s License suspended for 6 months and participation a counseling program.
Chief Reporter and Editor for News-Facts-N-Comments provided an in-depth analysis and commentary on Day 1 of The State of Florida v. Calvin Riley on Sunday, April 7, 2024, @NewsFactsNComments on YouTube. View it here.
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