A Johnson County prosecutor dropped charges Tuesday against a 92-year-old West Branch farmer accused of driving his vehicle through wet concrete on Herbert Hoover Highway, causing over $366,000 in damages.
Carl Fobian initially was charged with felony criminal mischief and trespassing, a serious misdemeanor. If convicted on the felony charge, he would have faced up to five years in prison. The case was planned to go to trial Tuesday before the charges were dismissed.
According to the complaint, a vehicle drove around barricades on Herbert Hoover Highway northeast at Oasis Road and also at Lower West Branch Road, driving through freshly poured concrete for about 1/4 of a mile. The damage was estimated at $366,139, the complaint stated.
Leon Spies, Fobian’s Iowa City lawyer, said his client maintained his innocence and that witnesses “familiar with his whereabouts” that day — Nov. 1, 2022 — would testify Fobian couldn’t have committed the crime.
“The investigator thought the tire tread on Fobian’s farm car resembled the tracks in the damaged pavement, and believed that material from one wheel well of Fobian’s car was concrete,” Spies told The Gazette. “Fobian’s home farm is near Herbert Hoover Highway where the damage occurred.”
However, the defense had scientific tests of evidence taken from underneath Fobian’s vehicle by Johnson County sheriff’s investigators that showed no concrete — only mud and gravel dust, Spies said.
Assistant Johnson County Attorney Haley Huddleston amended the trial information to only the serious misdemeanor before asking the court Monday to dismiss the case.
“While there was probable cause for the (charges), after conducting depositions and upon further investigation there is not enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” Huddleston said in her
https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/prosecutor-drops-trespass-charge-against-west-branch-farmer/ motion.
Carl Fobian initially was charged with felony criminal mischief and trespassing, a serious misdemeanor. If convicted on the felony charge, he would have faced up to five years in prison. The case was planned to go to trial Tuesday before the charges were dismissed.
According to the complaint, a vehicle drove around barricades on Herbert Hoover Highway northeast at Oasis Road and also at Lower West Branch Road, driving through freshly poured concrete for about 1/4 of a mile. The damage was estimated at $366,139, the complaint stated.
Leon Spies, Fobian’s Iowa City lawyer, said his client maintained his innocence and that witnesses “familiar with his whereabouts” that day — Nov. 1, 2022 — would testify Fobian couldn’t have committed the crime.
“The investigator thought the tire tread on Fobian’s farm car resembled the tracks in the damaged pavement, and believed that material from one wheel well of Fobian’s car was concrete,” Spies told The Gazette. “Fobian’s home farm is near Herbert Hoover Highway where the damage occurred.”
However, the defense had scientific tests of evidence taken from underneath Fobian’s vehicle by Johnson County sheriff’s investigators that showed no concrete — only mud and gravel dust, Spies said.
Assistant Johnson County Attorney Haley Huddleston amended the trial information to only the serious misdemeanor before asking the court Monday to dismiss the case.
“While there was probable cause for the (charges), after conducting depositions and upon further investigation there is not enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” Huddleston said in her
https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/prosecutor-drops-trespass-charge-against-west-branch-farmer/ motion.
