Brian Rich Case

Last Friday was the Jury Trial Sounding Docket in Pittsburg County. It is at this docket that the government and defense attorneys tell the court if their case is ready or not for trial and the court schedules those cases that are for trial over the next few weeks. We appeared and announced ready on State v. Brian Rich. The trial was scheduled to begin on the morning of October 7th at 9AM

Mr. Rich was scheduled to stand trial on allegations of Assault and Battery. In May of 2021, Brian was driving on a rural road with his wife, and traveling behind him was his mother in a separate vehicle. A man in a mini van was traveling down the same road at a high rate of speed when he came upon the two vehicles driven by Rich and his mother. According to an eye-witness report, the minivan attempted to pass the vehicle of Brian Rich’s mother several times by driving in the grass on the right side of the road. The erratic driving nearly caused his mother’s vehicle off the road until she was eventually able to move enough to allow the mini van to go around her. The driver of the minivan next encountered Brian and began to force him off the roadway in a similar manner.

Brian stopped his vehicle and when he did the driver of the minivan was driving so closely that he collided with the rear of Brian’s vehicle resulting in minor damage. When Brian got out his vehicle, he first went to inspect the rear for any damage. As he was doing so the man driving the minivan yelled to him that he when he got out of his van, he was going to “whoop Brian’s ass”.

The other driver approached Brian and grabbed his arm, when he did so Brian used his fist to hit the man one time in the mouth. The strike caused the man to let go of Brian’s arm, and allowed Brian the opportunity to retreat away from the man. Brian got into his truck and drove up the road to create some distance and called the authorities. The driver of the van called the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Department as well.

A deputy came out and interviewed the man in the minivan first. Despite Brian’s statement along with his wife and mother’s who also saw the incident first hand and an independent witness who was also driving on the same road that day, all of whom confirmed that the story as told by Brian Rich was true, Brian was still charged with a crime.

Brian was offered to have it reduced down to a fine and something that would be able to be removed from his record, but that wasn’t ok with him. He didn’t feel like he should have to pay fines and court costs and supervision fees. He was justified in his actions and he was willing to let the citizens of this county decide his fate.

As Brecken was preparing to file some motions and other filings in regard to his scheduled jury trial today, we received notice that the state had decided to dismiss Mr. Rich’s case. Should it have ever been filed in the first place? No, probably not. Was it investigated well by the law enforcement officers involved? No, not at all. Should it have taken this long for justice to come in the form of a dismissal? No, that shouldn’t have been the case either.

However, it is a good result. Brian no longer has to worry and stress about the possibility of losing his freedom, and that’s an excellent thing. This is also a good reminder that you don’t have to take a plea just because the government wants to bully you into one. In those circumstances you need a trial lawyer, and at Wagner & Lynch that is exactly what we do, and that likely had a lot to do with why this case was dismissed.

It was our pleasure to represent Brian Rich and we wish him the best in all he does