An attorney has been given permission to stop representing an ex-con accused of defrauding an elderly man of $4.5 million.
Attorney Robin M. Vail of the Law Offices of Miller Vail of Heber Springs said in a motion filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court that she and Kristian D. Nelson of England “are at an impasse regarding representation.” She also represented his I Sell 4 U Auto Sales LLC and asked to be removed as the defendants’ attorney of record.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen granted Vail’s request. Attorney Ronald L. Davis Jr. of Little Rock said in a court filing that he is now representing Nelson in the case.
Richard F. Toll, 90, sued Nelson in July. Toll accused Nelson of defrauding him of $4.5 million in less than three years. Toll’s attorney is David D. Wilson of Friday Eldredge & Clark of Little Rock.
During Nelson’s deposition taken last year, Wilson asked Nelson if he believes he will be criminally prosecuted for his dealings with Toll.
“I don’t believe so,” said Nelson, who in 2009 was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison for wire fraud after taking about 20 investors for more than $1 million.
Nelson added that his dealings with Toll were a “complicated issue. There’s not just a simple yes or no. If I say yes to something and admit it, then it makes it look like that I am criminally doing something. … But if I’m not able to tell what happened, then it could be construed as something wrong. So I really want to get this out. I really want to get this thing to where it’s right.”
The jury trial is set for Feb. 15-17 in Griffen’s courtroom.
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