Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Can “Bachelor” Chris Soules avoid jail time for fatal crash?

Episode Date: May 3, 2017

Police found empty alcohol containers in Chris Soules’s truck after the “Bachelor” star rear-ended a tractor, killing a farmer, last week. Defense lawyers argue a fleeing the scene of an accident charge should be dropped because Soules called 911, gave his name and admitted hitting the tractor and then tried to the dying man medical help before driving home. But since he refused to answer his door when deputies knocked, his blood-alcohol level was never tested. Nancy Grace debates the case with defense lawyer Brian Claypool in this episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. a very different kind of drama. I rear-ended a guy in a tractor. The victim, Kenneth Mosier, was Soles' neighbor in their small-town Iowa community. The grandfather of three and Vietnam War veteran died from his injuries at the hospital hours after the accident. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. What's your name? My name's Chris Soles. Soles was uninjured, but police say they had to track him down after the accident. He wasn't present when the cops arrived in order to submit to a field sobriety test. Did he just get scared? Mr. Souls, you are charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death. Dancing with the stars.

Oh, dear Lord in heaven. There couldn't be four more words that would strike fear in my heart. I would rather try a serial killer than hear those four words because that meant I had already come down those tall stairs the whole time going, Oh, Lord, please don't let me fall. Don't let me fall. If I have to fall and break my neck, at least let it be during a dance routine, not coming down the stairs. And then there would be that moment where you had to start your dance routine. The reason I'm talking about this is because a reality TV star a veteran of dancing with the stars and Bachelorette and Bachelor is now what would you say I wouldn't call him inmate number five four three two one but I would say he's definitely got a booking number assigned to him I'm talking talking, of course, about Bachelor

Chris Soules. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and joining me in addition to the Duke, Alan Duke, is high-profile lawyer on the Dahlia DiPolito case. Joining me from his plush digs in the L.A. area, Brian Claypool. Brian, thank you for being with us. Great to be back, Nancy. And before we even start, I want to let you know, I'm going to waive my conflict of interest on this story because my phone blew up calling in votes for you

when you were on Dancing with the Stars. So I'm going to have to put that aside and be objective today. Oh, man, I would be. Look, can I tell you one more thing? I had so many missteps during Dancing with the Stars. I worked on a split. All week, I did splits. The night I was supposed to do the split, my shoe got stuck in my long dress,

and the split didn't happen. I mean, it was just one thing after the next, you know, so I can't believe I made it to the, as I say, coveted final, whatever it was, final four, I don't know, five. Anyway, that was a miracle. All right. Now let's get back to Chris Soules. This is what I know. Chris Soules rear-ended a John Deere tractor in the middle of nowhere. And I say that in the best sense because that's where I come from, the middle of nowhere, where tractors would be on the road. I mean, come on. A tractor, it can't be going over 15 miles an hour. I mean, like really slowly going down the street, the man minding his own business. How can you rear-end a tractor without some degree of recklessness? Anyway, so the guy, Kenneth Mosher,

is thrown off the tractor. He lands in the ditch where he dies and the bachelor chris old calls 9-1-1 to his credit i mean i don't know why i'm giving him a gold star for calling 9-1-1 of course he should call 9-1-1 he says his name which again uh why is he getting credit for that what Should he lie? He gives an approximate location, and then he leaves. He leaves the scene, and right now, he is charged with leaving the scene of a crash, but now more is coming out about was he drinking. Now, Brian Claypool, I'm sure you're going to whitewash this, but one thing he achieved by leaving the scene of the crash is they couldn't do a breathalyzer on him. He goes about 15 miles to his home in Arlington, goes in his house, shuts the door, locks the door. The police track him down through his red truck, they bam on the door he hides out in there

holed up for hours i mean come on can we just get real on this how many times do you think he tt'd tried trying to get that blood alcohol down i mean look i don't have proof that he had been drinking but in the last hours some some evidence has come out. Nancy, didn't his lawyer file a motion, I think yesterday or today, to dismiss the charges of him fleeing the scene? Because as I understand, he also administered some medical aid to the gentleman that was tragically killed. So his lawyers are arguing, wait a minute, this isn't your typical flee the scene kind of crime.

I mean, he really was on the phone. He was administering phone. He was administering help. He was there trying to help. And that's not a typical person who commits a crime and then runs off into the darkness. Let's follow up on what Brian Claypool is saying and listen to this 911 call. It's a very brief. And he does turn around and go, hey, does anybody here know CPR? And I think he did reach over and determine the guy still had a pulse. Brian Claypool, I promise, if I find you dying in a ditch, God forbid, I will do more than take your pulse, okay?

I promise you that. We don't know what all he did. Nancy, are you sure you would do that if he threw me in the ditch? Are you positive? If you tossed me into the ditch, would you help me? Let me rethink my more than generous offer. Hold on, listen to this. Kenny County 9-1-1, what is the location of your emergency? Just north of, north of, north of Aurora. Okay, what's the address?

There's no address. What's the address? An accident, is he okay? Mile north of Aurora. Mile north of Aurora. Okay, I got it. Is anybody injured? Yes, there's others.

Wow, I rear-ended a guy in a tractor. Okay, so it's a truck car versus tractor? Yes, yes. Okay, and who's injured? The man on the tractor. Is the tractor in the ditch? Yes, yes. Okay, and the guy was thrown into the ditch?

Yes. Okay, just one moment. And that guy was thrown into the ditch? Yes. Okay. Just one moment. They're coming. They're coming. Okay. Are you talking to him? Is he conscious?

He's not conscious. He's not conscious? Can you check the TV? 911, what is the exact location of your emergency? This is Buchanan County. Any Demersi Wine Ambulance sent one mile north of Aurora on Slater Avenue for a vehicle versus tractor accident. The tractor has thrown into the ditch and the rider of the tractor is injured. Caller, stay on the phone with me, okay?

You won't hear me for just a minute, but don't hang up. Donna, I got this, okay? Okay, you got it? Yep. Thank you. What's your name? My name's Chris Gold. Okay. Is he breathing, Chris? I can't tell. It doesn't appear to be.

You say it doesn't look like he's breathing, Chris? No. Is the tractor on him? No. Chris, are we able to start CPR? Chris, do you know how to do CPR? No, I don't. Are you near him at all? Anybody know how to do CPR? No. Chris, is there somebody with you?

No, there's people here, yes. Okay. Does anyone there know how to do CPR? Anybody know how to do CPR? Anybody know how to do CPR? I can talk you through it if you're near the patient. There's blood. Is there blood coming out of his mouth? Yes. Okay.

I feel like I feel a pulse. Yeah, he's got a pulse. He does have a pulse? I feel a pulse. Check to see if he's breathing. Yeah. You guys are on your way? Okay, Chris, yeah.

I'm going to stay on the line with you. We have law enforcement, medical en route, too. I want to know if those vehicles that are up on the road have their flashers on. They do? I'm going to go. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, they're on. Okay.

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and you will get the special 10% discount. Go to simplisafe.com slash nancy, simplisafe.com slash nancy for 10% off the home security system. simplisafe.com slash nancy. Alan Duke, please tell Brian Claypool the very latest. Brian has been in court all day. He doesn't know about TMZ's report. Go ahead. Well, it's not just TMZ. It's also the Des Moines Register is reporting that documents filed by the Buchanan County Attorney's Office today in response to the motion to have it dismissed said that the empty and partially consumed open alcoholic beverages

found in and around Chris Soule's vehicle after the fatal crash were purchased, quote, shortly before the accident. Okay, Claypool, I've got an answer for that, but you go first. Well, I mean, how much alcohol are we talking about, Alan? Do you know? I mean, are we talking, did he consume an entire six-pack in a half hour? Brian, you really do beat all because first you're saying there's no evidence that he was drinking or that he had alcohol and then we find out last night that there was wait wait a second you have no evidence that he consumed alcohol there's no witness saying I saw Chris downing four beers at the at the the local grocery store out

on a patio there's no there's no eyewitnesses drinking any alcohol his lawyers gonna argue that all that does is show proof that he purchased alcohol we don't know whether he had a passenger with him where he went after he bought the alcohol was he patronizing with somebody that's not direct evidence that he was under the influence and impaired when he was driving. Okay, I was just waiting, hoping you would say exactly what you said. Okay, so where I was before I was so rudely interrupted by Defense Attorney Brian Claypool was that, first, you're like, there's no evidence he was drinking. So last night, I was discussing

this very thing on Nightlineline and I said, look, he hasn't been charged with DUI. He hasn't been charged with even drinking at all to any limit, to any extent, but we know that there was alcohol spotted in his car. But here's the problem with that. For all I know, it was a 12-pack, unopened, in a bag, from Walmart, in the trunk. I don't know. Or was it a giant tumbler with the ice still in it of gin and tonic or Coke and Jack right there in the beverage holder? I mean, spilled all over the front seat. I don't know what the booze was.

So without knowing that, I can't say what it contributes, if anything, to a charge. But now we are hearing that he just bought the booze just before the crash, according to TMZ. What else did the Des Moines Register say, Alan Duke? The filing from the prosecutor also says that along with identifying himself, Soles was required to, quote, immediately return to the scene of the accident or inform law enforcement authorities where he could be located, but he didn't do that. And it says the only permissible reasons which Soles could have left the scene of the accident in the first place was to seek necessary aid or to report the accident to law enforcement

authorities. And that's not what happened. Okay, wait a minute. I got something for you, Claypool. Now listen to this. Prosecutors say Soles attempted to dodge several facts around the accident, including an explanation of the empty and partially consumed open alcoholic beverage located in and around his vehicle that he was seen purchasing at a convenience store shortly before the accident. I was just about to say, Brian, if there is a witness or surveillance video or credit card receipt showing that he, let's just go with Coors Light, okay, that he bought a six-pack and then in the car, in the truck, police find the six-pack with one empty beer can in the floor and one half-consumed beer can in the beverage container. That's pretty strong evidence that he was drinking and driving if the crash happened right after the purchase.

Would you at least agree with that, Brian? I would agree with your comment that it could prove that he was drinking and driving, but it doesn't prove that he was driving under the influence of alcohol and that that alcohol he consumed impaired his ability to pay attention to avert the accident. That's just not enough evidence to prove that. Okay, dumb me down for me, because what you're saying in regular people talk is you, and I don't want to encourage this, especially to Alan Duke, who is not afraid of a cocktail, okay?

Let me just put that out there. You do not, you can have a drink and drive and that alcohol not be enough to get you to the legal limit 0.08 of dui however you still can be charged with driving while impaired what about that let? Let's back up. First of all, there's no law against drinking a beer. If you're having a sip of a beer while you're driving, I don't believe that violates the law. I could be wrong. I don't think it does. But what we're looking at here is you need to prove that if Chris Soules, in fact, drank a beer or two from the time he purchased the six-pack, that that actually played an integral role in his ability to pay attention when he was driving.

There's still no nexus or connection between he consumed a little bit of alcohol, and that actually, beyond a reasonable doubt, impaired his ability to pay attention. Now, I saw in a recent report, Nancy, that this accident occurred at the time of day when the sun was going down, and there's now an issue as to whether he could have seen the tractor, in other words, with absent any lights on. So lighting could have been an issue. Here's your problem, Ms. Prosecutor. You don't have any empirical scientific evidence of Chris Soules being under the influence of alcohol when he's driving, number one.

There's no reliable evidence that alcohol played any part in him being able to pay attention when he's driving number one there's no reliable evidence that alcohol played any part in him being able to pay attention when he's driving number two and and number three like you said there's no breathalyzer done there's no blood test done yeah because he fled the scene that's why first of all i'm not condoning what he did as far as playing the scene but when you meshed him not having been subjected to any type of testing whether it be blood tests breathalyzer or sobriety tests you don't as a prosecutor you don't now have that crucial information it makes it harder now for the prosecutor to get a conviction on negligent vehicular homicide negligent homicide so that's all i'm saying

it's going to be a harder haul hold on hold on hold on the bachelor chris souls walks away from the scene of the deadly crash apparently calls somebody to pick him up to take him home and when the sheriffs get to his home and bam on the door he refuses to to come out. He stays, holds up in there, holds up in there for hours. Finally, the two deputies who were at his home and asked him to come out, he refuses several hours for them to go get a search warrant. So he stayed in there long enough to TT some of the booze out. That's what the argument's going to be and also when they search the pickup they find beer cans inside don't know if they were full or

empty okay but but here my counter to that is this did he did crystals handle this in a dignified proper way no did he handle it in an illegal way by going home and not answering the door and not speaking to the officers when they came to his office? No. He's not legally obligated to go out and say, hey, Mr. or Mrs. Officer, sure, put a needle in my arm and take my blood sample or take a blood test. He's not legally obligated to do that. They didn't have a search warrant or any type of warrant at the time they went to his house. I mean, from a perception standpoint, it doesn't look good. You are legally obligated.

If you were driving on a public road, you agree to take a breathalyzer or a blood alcohol. You could refuse it. That's just part of the deal. No, but you can refuse that and be charged with a crime for that. Yeah, I guess you can, then you lose your license. Then you're charged with a crime, then you're charged with, right. Brian, where did you grow up? Where did I grow up?

Uh-huh. Speaking of alcohol, I grew up in a town where Rolling Rock Beer is brewed, believe it or not, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 35 miles outside of Pittsburgh. Rolling Rock Beer's Brewed. I know all about beer, people drinking. Do you know anything about tractors? Did you know anything about tractors? Yeah, we grew up in a small little blue car. Do you know how fast a tractor can go? 15, 20 miles an hour. Yeah. So how can you miss a tractor going 15 miles an hour in front of you? Nancy, let me share a story with you, okay?

Mm-hmm. I also went to undergraduate at Penn State University. The only reason I'm telling you that is because I used to do a drive from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, up into what they called Happy Valley, okay, in central Pennsylvania. And I'm sure you're familiar with the Amish folks, right? And they drive in the buggies, right? They're prevalent in central Pennsylvania. The only reason I'm sharing this story with you,

there have been times when I've been driving on those country roads, and all of a sudden, it's kind of like you're looking forward, right? And you're not really realizing that the distance is closing in so quickly because the horse and buggies are going, what, maybe 10 miles an hour? And some of those were on the road. And they can create a hazard at times, just like a tractor. I've been driving out here even recently, where you see like a city truck that's going 10 or 15 miles on a on a road that's 55 miles an hour that's a hazard in and of itself right the amish person and their buggy and horses they're not the hazard it's the speed demon brian claypool driving admph pulling up mean, how can somebody barely moving be a hazard on a back road?

You're the problem. You and Chris Holes. You and Chris Holes are the problem. Now, if you're driving 65 miles an hour and you're coming up on a horse's buggy going 10 miles an hour or a tractor going 15 miles an hour, it can be deceiving to you, the distance, how quickly you're closing on that person. I've never had a problem with it. be deceiving to you, the distance, how quickly you're closing on that person. And that could create... I've never had a problem with it.

Maybe not to you, but to the average folk. I mean, it's happened to me. It can be dangerous. I'm not making a complete excuse for Chris Holtz, but I'm trying to glean a reasonable explanation as to why he misfired on the distance between his vehicle and the tractor. And I think that is a reasonable... You don't think that is a reasonable, you don't think that's a reasonable,

plausible explanation, Nancy? A tractor on a major road going 15 miles an hour? It's not a major road. It's not a major road. It's a back road. I don't know. No, I don't. And the tractor is going 25 miles an hour, which would be appropriate for a back road what's in street what

interests me is the totality of the circumstances where he rear-ends somebody which essentially is per se negligence when you rear-end somebody not only that he leaves the scene and stays gone long enough for the alcohol in his system to dissipate. Nancy, you're one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. You know that in this kind of case, there's more... Did you just say intelligiment? Did you say intelligiment? No, I'm suffering from...

It's the Sudafed. It's the Sudafed kicking in. I'm suffering from the head cold. Brian Claypool just left the 7-Eleven where he bought a six-pack. Okay, go ahead. Nancy, two important facts that we don't have yet. Pieces of evidence that have to be developed before we call out the firing squad on Clear Soul. Number one, what was the speed of the tractor at the time of the accident where the gentleman was... All right, blame the victim.

Go ahead. I'm not blaming him. You have to do what's called an accident reconstruction. You have to have scientists come in and study the speed of... You've got to determine... Okay. Hear me out. Hear me out.

You've got to determine how fast was Chris Bowles traveling at the time of impact, A. B. How fast, if at all, was the tractor traveling at the time of impact? A. B. How fast, if at all, was the tractor traveling at the time of impact? For example, if the tractor was stationary, arguably Chris Soules, his lawyer could say, well, that created a hazard. The tractor just went out on the road

going a few miles an hour. So you're telling me it could be the tractor, Kenneth Mosier's's fault and for some reason chris souls the reality star had to go home and hide behind a closed door from two sheriffs uh and think about it okay well here's the other thing let's back up all of that might work for you out in la that might work for you in la but that ain't gonna fly in Iowa it's not gonna happen and you haven't even touched on what I think is very important this guy has a drinking and a driving history that goes back to 1998 underage drinking speeding a multitude of infractions. He has a previous out of Cedar Falls hit and run, and he has a 2006 DUI.

So he knew the drill. He knew that if he was drinking and had a crash and he was DUI, he was up the creek without a paddle. Okay. Well. There you go. All right. Let me clarify what I said.

I'm not saying that the man who was killed was at fault. What I said was, him pulling the tractor, maybe at a slow rate of speed on that road may have been a contributing factor to this

tragedy, and that sometimes when these things happen, it's not a murder or a homicide. Rather, it is simply a tragic accident. And that's the point I was trying to make. Is that what you're going to argue in Dahlia DiPolito?

We have to shift gears to that. The almost black widow. Hey guys, I just saw one more thing I want to tell you. I was rereading a quote from the prosecutor's filings. It says, by leaving the scene, he attempted to dodge facts around the accident, including an explanation of the empty and partially consumed open alcoholic beverages in and around his vehicle. I know I think I read that earlier, but I'm rereading it.

So some at least one of the beer cans was empty. And that means there's another one that's partially consumed that's a beer and a half if i'm reading that correctly whoopsie nancy his behavior is consistent with somebody who's afraid he's afraid of the perception that if you've got an empty beer can and maybe a half empty beer can that the whole world is going to do what they're doing now, which is conclude that he's a raving alcoholic, he's got a prior DUI, and that all of that coalesced caused this accident, caused this death. Yeah, because it's common sense.

No, but Nancy, come on. Let's be real, okay? Let's be real, you and I. Okay, okay. Let's pretend that we just met at a lounge, okay? I've always been dying to meet you. Okay, first of all, I don't meet men at lounges, first of all. Let's live out my fantasy for a couple minutes. We meet at a lounge.

I'll try. And I order you a beer. We have a beer. We chit-chat. You tell me about your experience on Dancing with the Stars. And then you have another half beer. I get you another half beer. I buy it for you, by the way, even after you

tossed me in the ditch 15 minutes ago. So I get you a couple beers. You've had one and a half beers. Now, after one and a half beers, I want you to tell me honestly, how do you think you would feel after a beer and a half how do you think you would, you would feel after a beer and a half and you weigh less than, a lot less than Chris Soules, do you really believe that's going to dramatically impair, be honest with me. Okay, I'll be honest with you, number one,

I do not meet men in lounges, okay, number two, if I did, if I i did you're killing my fantasy but go ahead if i did if i did it would definitely be you but if i did i had if i number two i don't drink number three when i have had a drink if i have one drink i go straight to sleep it's just not fun for me i'm just one of those people i go oh dear lord, dear Lord in heaven, I'm tired. Finally, I can go to sleep. And so it's no fun. So if I had a beer and a half, I would be asleep at the wheel. That was a bad fantasy analogy. So I know that's not the answer you were hoping for.

So now you want to make up. Okay, I love this. Okay, you know what? I think that you have said enough about Mr. Chris Olds. With me is superstar Brian Claypool out of the L.A. jurisdiction, telling me all about his homespun childhood, growing up in the hardscrabble suburbs in Pennsylvania. The main streets of where was it?

Nancy, three things. Rolling Rock Beer, Arnold Palmer's hometown for any golfing fans out there of yours, and the Pittsburgh Steelers train every summer in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. As a kid growing up in the backyard, I could see them.

I looked it up on Google and all I could pull up were pictures of mansions. And okay, well, whatever. I guess that's Mr. Blue Collar, Brian Claypool. Alan Duke, Brian, whatever. I guess that's it. Mr. Blue Collar, Brian Claypool. Alan Duke, Brian Claypool, we expect another development in the Chris Soules, the bachelor slash the bachelorette slash Dancing with the Stars alum

in the next few hours, and we will be back on Crime Stories. Claypool, I'll see you in court, man. Alan Duke, I'll let you go back to your cement pond, your fancy swimming pool there in your high rise. And I'm going to sign off. Guys, thank you for being with me. Nancy Grace. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.