×

Vehicular homicide defendant to plead guilty

Aisha Ismail

Recently filed court documents indicate that the Fort Dodge woman charged with vehicular homicide for her role in a fatal July 2018 crash intends to plead guilty, nearly 18 months after charges were filed against her and two years after the crash.

A hearing scheduled Monday to hear the merits of Aisha Ismail’s motion to suppress evidence showing intoxication as a potential contributor to the accident was continued, pending a guilty plea anticipated to resolve the charge.

Ismail, 26, faces one count of homicide by vehicle, a Class B felony, stemming from the accident west of Badger on Webster County Road C56 that killed David Fliehe, 20, of Humboldt.

Iowa State Patrol Trooper Neil Morenz, the investigator of the crash, said that Ismail crashed her Land Rover head-on into a Plymouth Neon, killing the driver, as she tried to pass a pickup truck. The report estimates she was travelling about 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Defense attorney Judd Parker asked the court in June for an oral hearing to consider suppressing the search warrant, a urine sample obtained by it and resulting lab reports.

The urine sample taken from Ismail after she was transported to a Des Moines hospital showed a .101 blood alcohol concentration, above the .08 limit. Parker objected to the results of the warrant and urine sample on several grounds.

Parker cited several discrepancies between purported facts of the case and the facts Morenz presented to a judge to obtain a search warrant for Ismail’s bodily fluids.

First, the warrant authorized by a judge permitted a body specimen in the form of blood, different than both the requested urine sample in the application for the warrant and what was actually retrieved from Ismail. Parker argued that, per Iowa code, urine specimens are typically authorized after blood withdrawal is refused, which he said Ismail had no opportunity to do.

Parker alleged that Morenz knowingly made false statements in his warrant application when stating that the defendant had refused to give a specimen, as he had not been in contact with her before she was taken to the hospital from the scene of the accident.

The defense attorney also argued that there is no language in the warrant application filed by Morenz indicating reasonable cause to believe she was intoxicated, such as observations of slurred speech, beer cans on the floor of the vehicle or failed field sobriety tests. All search warrants must be supported by probable cause or, in some cases, the less stringent legal definition of “reasonable suspicion.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today