DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The January trial for an Iowa farmer-turned-reality television star charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident last year has been rescheduled.
FILE – In this Nov. 27, 2017, file photo, Iowa farmer and former TV reality show celebrity Chris Soules listens during a hearing in Buchanan County District Court in Independence, Iowa. Soules is fighting to avoid prison after driving his pickup into the back of a tractor and killing a neighbor in April 2017. He lost a legal battle Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, in the felony case against him when a judge dismissed his constitutional challenge to an Iowa law requiring the surviving driver in a fatal accident to remain at the scene until police arrive. It goes beyond the statutes of many states. His trial is set for Jan. 18. (Rodney White/The Des Moines Register via AP, Pool, File)
Chris Soules who appeared on “The Bachelor” and “Dancing With The Stars” had been scheduled to face a jury trial on Jan. 18. On Monday, Judge Andrea Dryer approved his attorney’s motion to postpone.
No new trial date has been set. Dryer has said it should begin before May 7.
Soules lost a legal battle Friday in the felony case when Dryer denied his motion to dismiss the charge. He claims Iowa’s law requiring the surviving driver in a fatal accident to remain at the scene until police arrive is unconstitutional.
Soules’ attorneys say he will appeal that ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.
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