Lawyer wants charges dismissed against bus driver accused of driving drunk

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A lawyer representing a man accused of driving drunk while behind the wheel of a full school bus last year wants charges against him dismissed. Troy Reynolds, 48, was arrested in October of 2022. 

Reynolds was accused of being drunk while driving a bus with 44 kindergartners on board from Ben Murch Elementary School in D.C. The children were returning from a field trip to Cox Farms when Reynolds drove the bus off the road and into a ditch. In December, he was indicted on nine felony charges of child endangerment and three misdemeanor charges which include second offense of driving while intoxicated, driving with a disqualified commercial license, and driving a bus without a commercial driver’s license. 

Now, Reynolds' lawyer, Amy M. Jordan, has filed a motion in Fairfax County court asking that the charges be dismissed. The motion argues Reynolds is not getting a speedy trial because of deadlines missed by the prosecution.

The motion breaks down the timeline of the case. According to that timeline, the case was scheduled to go to jury on March 21, 2023, and was "specifically set within speedy trial limits."

The motion says the prosecution was meant to submit all discovery material for the case by Feb. 4, 2023, but prosecutors submitted 11 new photos as well as a witness list on March 6.

Reynolds' lawyer argues in the motion that the missed deadline means Reynolds' constitutional rights were violated, and as a result, the case should be dismissed. 

Additionally, Jordan slams the prosecutor's office, saying this is not the first time this type of missed deadline has happened in the past, and that missing the discovery deadline is "unfathomable" given recent changes in the prosecutor's office.

"Ever since the Commonwealth held the Fairfax Courts and Fairfax County hostage with their refusal to prosecute misdemeanor offenses due to a “lack of resources,” the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has flooded the Commonwealth Attorney’s office with additional staff and funding. The Commonwealth is currently staffed at 54 attorneys, 13 paralegals and a litany of other support staff (they went from 63 employees to 84)," Jordan writes in the motion.

Jordan writes that the prosecution should not be granted a continuance in this case.

"The Commonwealth will most likely argue that a continuance is the appropriate remedy. However, Mr. Reynolds has been incarcerated for four months and 14 days. He has both statutory and Constitutional speedy trial rights. He should not be required to abandon those rights because of the Commonwealth's incompetence," Jordan writes.