*A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Kevin Roper, the truck driver accused of crashing into a limo van last year on the New Jersey Turnpike, injuring comedian Tracy Morgan and killing one of his comic friends James McNair.
The grand jury charged Roper with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular homicide and third-degree aggravated assault in the June 2014 crash.
Roper’s attorney, David Glassman, was in court Tuesday arguing to have the initial charges of vehicular homicide and assault by auto thrown out because of adverse publicity surrounding Morgan’s settlement of a lawsuit with Wal-Mart earlier this year.
A judge tentatively set a date for early January to revisit the issue. Glassman said in an email Wednesday that the timing of the hearing would depend on how quickly he could review the grand jury transcripts.
Roper, of Jonesboro, Georgia, was not in court Wednesday. An arraignment will be scheduled at a later date, according to the prosecutor’s office.
