The Dallas County District Attorney's office agreed on Thursday to throw out the indictment of a former Grand Prairie teacher accused of killing a young boy in January and will present the case to another grand jury.
Tammy Lowe, 53, is charged with manslaughter and failure to stop and render aid in the Jan. 24 hit-and-run crash that killed 6-year-old John Raidy.
The unusual move to throw out the indictment came after Lowe's attorneys said prosecutors had reneged on an agreement to allow them to present a defense to the first grand jury.
"It's dirty pool when you don't keep your word," said Susan Anderson, Lowe's attorney.
Lowe resigned as a teacher five days after the hit-and-run crash, the same day she turned herself in to police.
Prosecutors said they are under no legal obligation to allow defendants or their attorneys to give information to grand juries but acknowledged they had agreed to in this case.
"We're going to go back and we'll end up dismissing that indictment and present the case to another grand jury and give him an opportunity to present," said Heath Harris, the Dallas County district attorney's top assistant. "This office is all about credibility and doing the right thing."
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Lowe's attorneys also complained about police seizing her car and refusing to return it.
Police say it is evidence.
"Why are you keeping her car?" said Cameron Gray, another defense attorney. "Are you going to drive it into the courtroom during the trial? This is a 53-year-old grandma teacher who needs her car."
Gray said he is loaning Lowe his car and also has given her a job in his law office.
Lowe appeared at the news conference with her attorneys but did not say a word.
"She's not going to be talking because I told her not to, so don't ask her any questions," Gray told reporters as the news conference began. "You're wasting your time. She's not going to answer them. That's not because she has something to hide; she has nothing to hide."
Gray said Lowe has an explanation why she hit the boy and didn't stop, but he declined to elaborate.
