Florida: DUI Dentist Matthew Moye still avoids trial for killing Kate Kohlier

 

Matthew Moye DUI Tampa FL fatal 083113

 Dr. Matthew Moye says he wasn’t drinking at the Halloween Party he attended but his blood draw told a different story…after he killed Kate Kohlier

From Tampa Tribune / TBO

TAMPA — A few seconds was all it took for Roy Kohlier to lose his daughter, who was killed by a car as she crossed the South Harbour Island Bridge.

Three years later, Kohlier is still waiting for justice.

The DUI manslaughter case against the local dentist driving the car has yet to go to court as lawyers on both sides continue to depose a long list of witnesses, go through mountains of evidence and interview a slew of scientific experts. A separate civil lawsuit is likely to go trial this fall, well before the criminal case.

Kohlier, 51, didn’t think the legal process would take this long.

“I was under the impression that it would take a year or a year and a half at most,” he said. “The length of time is frustrating. But (the lawyers) being deliberate, crossing their T’s and dotting their I’s, is comforting. They don’t want to leave room for mistakes to be made.”

Joseph Bodiford, an adjunct professor at Stetson University’s College of Law, said it is unusual but not unheard of for DUI manslaughter cases to take years to go to trial.

“The vast majority of DUI manslaughter cases has more forensic evidence than murder cases,” said Bodiford, who is also a criminal defense lawyer in Tampa. “There’s layer after layer. Even one deposition leads into an investigation and then that leads to finding an expert witness. It’s complex.”

Kohlier said waiting for answers has prolonged his pain.

“There’s not a day that goes by that you don’t remember,” he said. “It’s hard to have closure. Is it frutrasting? Yes. But I can’t do anything about it.”

His daughter, 24-year-old Kate Kohlier, and her co-worker Doug Kozar were walking toward the Harbour Island parking garage at 1:45 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2010, after finishing their shifts at the Marriott Waterside Hotel.

Police said that’s when Riverview dentist Matthew Moye ….MORE