Iowa City woman wants trial moved in vehicular homicide case

IOWA CITY - A 50-year-old Iowa City woman charged with vehicular homicide after investigators say she hit and killed her friend with a truck is asking a judge to move her trial outside Johnson County.

In a letter filed in Johnson County District Court, Miranda Lalla also is requesting a new court-appointed attorney, explaining that she does not “want anyone or anything involved in my case having anything to do with the surrounding area.”

Lalla, who is being held in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, wrote that she believes her only chance at a fair trial is to have it in another county with another court-appointed attorney.

“My face, name and details of this case have been on the television and in the newspaper,” Lalla wrote. “Due to these facts, I feel any juror from this area would already have convicted me in their mind.”

A judge has not yet ruled on Lalla's appeal in her letter to “please allow me the opportunity to have a fair trial.”

Lalla initially was arrested June 17 on suspicion of operating while intoxicated after Iowa City police were called to 315 E. First St. for a report of a vehicle accident with injuries. When officers arrived just after 7:15 p.m., they were told that Lalla and Pamela Gross, 44, of Iowa City, had gotten into a fight, according to criminal complaints.

During the fight, Lalla is accused of getting in her Dodge Ram pickup to leave and reversing with the driver's side door open, according to police. Gross was standing next to the truck between the passenger compartment and the driver's door when Lalla started to back up, police reported; she was knocked down and run over, according to police.

Gross was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she was pronounced dead.

Lalla told investigators she had been at the Jobsite bar in Iowa City earlier that evening having a few beers. She said she drove a friend home, according to the criminal complaints, and they began to fight in the parking lot.

Police reported that Lalla showed measurable impairment when she performed the field sobriety tests after the accident, according to the complaints. Officers tested her blood alcohol content level at the scene at 0.093 percent, but she later refused chemical testing. The legal limit to drive in Iowa is 0.08 percent.

After further investigation, the Johnson County Attorney's Office decided to upgrade the charge against Lalla to vehicular homicide, a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.