Trial ordered in Prairie Village wreck that killed former Chiefs cheerleader

Tiffany Mogenson never had a chance that afternoon last October.

The 30-year-old dance studio owner was sitting in her car at a Prairie Village intersection when a car speeding from an attempted police stop “obliterated” the rear of her vehicle.

Mogenson died instantly.

On Wednesday, the Shawnee man charged with causing the Oct. 11 fatal crash appeared in Johnson County District Court, where a judge ordered him to stand trial in Mogenson’s death.

District Judge Brenda Cameron found enough evidence to try 32-year-old Roy Lee Maney on alternative charges of first-degree felony murder or reckless second-degree murder, aggravated battery, obstruction of legal process and leaving the scene of an accident.

Maney’s lawyer, Mark Dupree, entered not-guilty pleas on his client’s behalf, and the case was set for a scheduling conference on Nov. 20.

Dozens of Mogenson’s family and friends attended Wednesday’s daylong preliminary hearing.

According to testimony presented by assistant district attorneys Lannie Ornburn and Ann Henderson, a Prairie Village police officer clocked Maney’s black Mercedes going 48 mph in a 35 mph zone on 75th Street.

Officer Ryan Warkentin testified that when he turned on his lights and siren and began to pursue the Mercedes, it accelerated away from him as the officer’s car approached 80 mph. Warkentin said he terminated the pursuit almost immediately but continued driving on 75th Street.

The officer said that as he approached the intersection with Roe Avenue, he saw that a wreck had just occurred. Mogenson was stopped at the red light when her car was hit by the Mercedes, pushing it into the intersection where several other vehicles were hit.

An accident reconstruction expert testified that Maney’s car was traveling at least 89 mph at the time of impact.

Warkentin and several other witnesses said that after the wreck, they saw the driver of the Mercedes get out and run away.

One witness, Jessica McGovern, testified that when the man got out of the Mercedes, he turned and looked at the wreck, then put both hands on his head as if “in distress” before he ran off.

Other officers headed in the direction where the driver had run. Luke Roth, who was a detective at the time, said he spotted Maney walking near 78th and Fontana streets. When Roth yelled that he was a police officer, Maney took off running. Roth chased him into the backyard of a house, where he was arrested after a struggle.

Roth and other officers who had contact with Maney said he smelled as if he had been drinking. But his blood was not drawn until three hours after the wreck because police had to first obtain a search warrant. Testing showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.05 percent, according to testimony. The legal limit in Kansas is 0.08 percent.

Mogenson owned The Pointe Dance Studio in Blue Springs. She had been a member of the Golden Girls dance team at the University of Missouri and had worked as a Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader.

Maney, who has been held in the Johnson County jail for nearly a year, has a bond of $200,000.

This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 4:30 PM.