ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - After more than 20 years of litigation, Ed Heller hoped a jury would finally hold the people he believed was responsible for his wife’s death this past March.

Patricia Heller died in January 2003, shortly after leaving Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in a taxi while on a business trip. She never reached her final destination.

According to Hapeville Police, the taxi driver crashed into a line of trees on Interstate 85; the roads were slick after a recent rain. Patricia Heller left behind her husband and two children.

“I heard a knock on the door. And at the door was a police officer and the pastor of our local church,” said Heller. “They told me that she had passed away in the accident.”

The taxicab driver, Abdallah Adem, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide for driving with unsafe tires, because the cab’s tires lacked sufficient tread.

Patricia Heller’s family filed a lawsuit against the driver, the taxicab company and an Atlanta city inspector who passed the taxi’s safety inspection a day before the crash.

“This woman lost her life for reasons that never should have happened,” said James Potts, the family’s attorney.

On March 4, a Fulton County jury found the taxicab company (which is no longer in business) liable for Patricia Heller’s death, but not the driver or the city inspector.

“I was shocked,” said Potts. “For these jurors not to also hold the driver, who pled guilty to vehicular homicide for unsafe tires, and the city inspector who passed the taxi with those slick tiers on his less than 24 hours before Patricia’s death, made no sense.”

After the trial, Potts said he spoke to some of the jurors to ask why they didn’t hold the taxicab driver and the city inspector liable, too.

According to court documents, juror Scott Kelley spoke up and claimed he was the person responsible for the jury’s decision to withhold holding the driver and the city inspector liable.

“He said, ‘I stopped that.’ He said it again and said, ‘I’m the one that stopped that,’” Potts recalled.

Court transcripts show Kelley identified himself as a corporate attorney before he was selected to serve on the jury, but according to trial records, that wasn’t the full truth.

The Supreme Court of Illinois suspended Kelley from practicing law in 2008 for withholding $10,000 from a client, among other allegations, and has never been a licensed attorney in any state since then.

Prospective jurors in Fulton County sign a form pledging to tell the truth about their occupation. They also watch a video reminding them of their responsibilities and the importance of telling the truth.

In June, Heller’s family appealed the jury’s verdict and claimed Kelley’s actions should be considered juror misconduct when he “misrepresented his professional credentials.”

About a month later, a Fulton County State Court judge ordered a new trial, writing “the jury’s verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence.”

The order does not address the family’s claims of jury misconduct.

The verdict to hold the taxicab company liable for Patricia Heller’s death still holds; it awarded the family $25 million in damages. But the judge’s order means the family will have another opportunity to re-trial the case against the taxicab driver and the city inspector.

Ed Heller, who now lives in a San Francisco suburb, said the trial is not about money.

“I just feel that I don’t want to let the behavior that I’ve watched over these years get away with it,” he said.

A new trial date has not been scheduled. Kelley declined interview multiple interview requests.

According to the National Center for State Courts, juror misconduct claims are on the rise, from less than 50 reported cases in 2000 to nearly 250 two decades later.

In criminal trials, juror misconduct can lay the groundwork to free convicted criminals. In 2004, a jury convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his late wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

This past August, Peterson’s attorney appealed his conviction after they claim a juror lied to the court she had never been involved in a domestic violence case.

In some cases, jurors can face repercussions themselves. In April 2023, authorities arrested a potential juror in the criminal trial involving Atlanta rapper Young Thug for alleging filming court proceedings on her phone.

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