Chris Soules is still facing felony charges after his 2017 fatal car accident.
According to Deadline, the Iowa Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by The Bachelor star to dismiss his felony charge for leaving the scene of the accident before it goes to trial.
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Last spring, Soules struck a tractor driven by war veteran and farmer Kenneth Moser on April 24 , 2017 in northern Iowa, sending it into a ditch. He called 911 and waited for first responders, but left before police arrived. He was charged with felony hit and run — which could carry a penalty of up to five years in prison — when Moser died at a local hospital.
Court documents claimed alcoholic beverages or containers were found at the scene of the crash. However, according to a toxicology report, the former Bachelor star did not have alcohol or drugs in his system following the fatal crash.
His lawyers have argued Soules fulfilled his legal obligation by calling 911 and waiting for paramedics to arrive.
“He then did the morally and legally responsible thing by staying on the scene and remaining on the scene of the accident until emergency governmental authorities arrived,” attorney Robert Montgomery told the judge. He added that Iowa code does not specify that the 36-year-old specifically needed to wait at the scene to speak with authorities.
Prosecutors argue that Soules left after 14 minutes and did not give law enforcement enough time to properly assess the situation.
“People who have a fender bender are at a crash scene longer than Mr. Soules,” said Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown. “Because this is a fatality it is necessary for law enforcement to at least have a face to face interaction with those that are involved.”
The Iowa State Patrol said Soules fled on foot after the 8:20 p.m. wreck, which occurred about 15 miles south of Soules’ farm in Arlington.
Soules contended Iowa law doesn’t require fatal wreck surviving drivers to wait for police. But state prosecutors say it does. Soules previously asked a judge to dismiss the case but the judge declined last month and Soules appealed.
Soules was the Season 19 star of ABC‘s dating competition series after finishing third on Season 10 of The Bachelorette with star Andi Dorfman in 2014.
Soules proposed to fertility nurse Whitney Bischoff in the finale of his show; they split about six months later. He also appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2015.
