March 19, 2024

Vehicular homicide trial date to be moved

The case of State of Iowa v. Tyson Scott Nall is likely to see a new trial date, following a request for continuance.

Originally, Nall was set to go to jury trial Oct. 3, 2022. An order for continuance was filed in August, and the trial date was moved to Feb. 6, 2023. According to the paperwork filed Jan. 23, the Feb. 6 trial date has been continued until further notice. District judge Patrick Greenwood signed off on the order for continuance, directing counsel for the parties to consult with Rural Case Coordinator Alissa Bowman to select a new trial date and to submit a proposed scheduling order. Parties had until 10 a.m., Feb. 2 to complete the request. A waiver of speedy trial was filed Jan. 26.

Background

Nall is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after an accident May 27, 2021, that killed three Murray teens.

Nall, 16 at the time, was driving east on Kansas Street when for reasons unknown he failed to yield at a train crossing, and was struck by an oncoming train.

Brooklynn Eggers, 14 and Gavin Werner, 15, were pronounced dead at the scene; Rylon Cook, 15, later died at a hospital in Des Moines. All four in the vehicle were from Murray.

On Aug. 15, a motion to suppress evidence was filed by Nall’s attorney, Robert Rehkemper III. The defense requested to suppress evidence obtained in a search warrant applied for by Iowa State Trooper Clayton Daniels on June 7, 2021. As part of the search warrant application, Daniels sought approval to search and seize the air-bag module in order to inspect the crash data information from Nall’s vehicle.

Documents from Rehkemper state the search warrant was issued in violation of the Fourth Amendment and article 1, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. The Fourth Amendment and article 1, section 8 both “prohibit government infringement into a citizen’s reasonable expectation of privacy absent a search warrant issued by a neutral and detached magistrate, supported by articulated probable cause.” Nall’s attorney also stated the application and affidavit for the search warrant failed to state the crime being investigated.

A suppression hearing was set Aug. 25, and the state filed a resistance to the motion to suppress on Aug. 15. The suppression hearing was noted to be addressed at the pretrial conference. The suppression was later denied Oct. 14.

New date

According to information available on Iowa Courts Online Feb. 1, a new pretrial date of May 4, 2023 has been set, with a jury trial set to begin May 22, 2023.