- The trial of a Tallahassee man for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license was expected to last one day.
- After video of his arrest went viral just days before the trial began, court will now continue into a second day.
- Watch the video above to hear from the man who was arrested and the officer who pulled him over.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A Tallahassee trial continuing to gain national attention. It was supposed to be a simple one day trial on Friday at the Leon County Courthouse. Instead going on for hours and now scheduled to restart Monday morning.
READ OUR LIVE BLOG OF THE TRIAL HERE.
At the center of it all to Tallahassee man accused of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. But in the courtroom on Friday, all both sides could talk about was accusations of misconduct by a Tallahassee police officer during that traffic stop in May of 2023.
The trial in Tallahassee against this man Calvin Riley moving to day two.
WATCH THE FIRST 8 HOURS OF THE TRIAL BELOW:
Judge: "State, you need to proceed with whatever evidence you have right now. If you don't have the right disk then you can't enter it."
The case gaining national attention after an edited portion of the body camera footage during the May 2023 arrest went viral. That raised questions about a Tallahassee Police Officer, Kiersten Oliver's, conduct during that traffic stop. The edited Our Tallahassee video was posted via X here.The edited video includes narration from Our Tallahassee.
Oliver watching in court that body camera footage. The state directly asking her if the vodka bottle in the car had anything to do with the DUI charge.
Oliver: "No, because it was found post his arrest."
On cross examination the defense painting Oliver as an inexperienced officer who mishandled the arrest.
Defense: "Today, you also testified that he had bloodshot eyes, correct?"
Oliver: "Correct."
Defense: "And you wrote a that report on May 7, correct?"
Oliver: "Yes, ma'am."
Defense: "And you swore to tell the truth in that report?"
Oliver: "Correct. Yes, ma'am."
Defense: "And in that report, you never said anything about them having bloodshot eyes. Correct?"
Oliver: "Yes, correct."
Defense: "You also did a deposition, is that correct?"
Oliver: "Correct."
Defense: "And what you were sworn to tell the truth?
Oliver: "Yes, ma'am."
Defense: "And in that deposition, you also never said he had bloodshot eyes."
Oliver: "Okay."
During the redirect, prosecution putting Oliver’s experience in context:
Prosecution: "You called officer <> to the scene. Was your intention to receive help?"
Oliver: "Yes."
Prosecution: "Were your intentions to make sure you're doing things properly?"
Oliver: "Correct."
Prosecution: "Was it a teaching moment for you?"
Oliver: "Absolutely."
According to court testimony and an arrest report Calvin Riley was arrested on South Monroe Street on May 2023. He was eventually charged with a DUI and driving with a suspended license.
The case hadn’t made any waves until a clip of the body camera footage in that case went viral days before the trial.
The Tallahassee Police Department said it will not release that body camera video until after the trial.
In an edited version of that video posted online by Our Tallahassee, Oliver is seen pouring a liquid out of a sealed bottle from Riley’s car. That’s seen again in court this time with some redaction ordered by the court.
Not after a strong admonishment from the bench about delays.
Judge: “The fact that we are wasting everyone's time including the jurors and the court personnel, and are going to be here late into the night because of this is unacceptable.”
Oliver not getting on the stand until after 2 p.m. after both the defense and prosecution stopping multiple times for sidebars, objections and other motions.
We talked one on one with Riley who denies the charges against him.
Riley: “They want to portray for me as being a disrespectful belligerent black man disrespecting a law enforcement. But you have to ask yourself why is he saying and arguing with this person like this?
WATCH AN EXTENDED PORTION OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH RILEY BELOW:
That trial expected to resume here at the Leon County courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning. The state is expected to call more witnesses and we’re still waiting to see if the defense will call any witnesses.
