Vehicular homicide case begins

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 31, 2008

VIDALIA — A Natchez man accused of vehicular homicide pleaded “not guilty” in Seventh Judicial District Court Wednesday.

Dusty G. Foster, 26, is charged with DWI (first offense), vehicular homicide and hit-and-run in connection with the May 31 death of Kevin Mitchell, 26, of Natchez.

The 2006 Ford Taurus Foster was driving reportedly collided with the Kawasaki motorcycle Mitchell was driving near Airport Road on U.S. 84.

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The motorcycle was reportedly lying in the eastbound lane of U.S. 84 because it had just been in a different accident prior to the collision, Louisiana State Police reports said at the time.

Foster allegedly fled the scene, and was later arrested by the Louisiana State Police.

At the hearing, Foster’s attorney Derrick Carson indicated he plans to file a motion to quash the charges against Foster.

A motion to quash can be filed to do away with an indictment or charges against a person if there is not enough evidence to link the charges to the person or if due diligence was not performed in the collection of evidence.

Part of the reason he plans to file that motion is because several court rulings have paired the DWI and vehicular homicide charges together, where they are considered to be one and the same, Carson said.

“You can’t have a vehicular homicide unless you have a person who was driving intoxicated,” Carson said.

Another question that is still up in the air is whether or not Foster’s vehicle was the one that fatally wounded Mitchell, Carson said.

“Final autopsy reports have not been returned, but the (initial) reports indicate multiple vehicles struck the victim,” Carson said.

The court will hear the motion to quash, along with any other motions the defense or prosecution file, in mid-August.