Minnesota resident Koua Fong Lee is now a free man.

Lee walked out of prison this week following court hearings that focused on concerns that a cruise control problem in the Toyota Camry he was driving caused a 2006 crash that killed three people. Lee has been serving an eight-year prison sentence after a jury determined that he was to blame for causing the crash. Based on new testimony related to widespread problems with the Camry's cruise control system, Lee was granted a new trial. Prosecutors later indicated that they wouldn’t seek a new trial.

In June 2006, Mr. Lee was driving his Toyota Camry when it unexpectedly accelerated before crashing into another car and killing Javis Adams, 33, his son Javis Adams Jr., 10, and his niece Devyn Bolton, 7. Mr. Lee was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide in October 2007 and sentenced to eight years in prison. A fourth person in the car, Quincy Adams, recently told a Minnesota TV station that he felt joy when he heard Lee had been released.

Attorneys Bob Hilliard from the Corpus Christi, Texas-based law firm of Hilliard Muńoz Gonzales LLP and Brent Schafer of Minneapolis’ Schafer Law Firm, P.A. argued in court that an inspection of Lee’s car found a cable actuator in the cruise control mechanism stuck in the open position, which would have caused the car to accelerate uncontrollably.

Hilliard and Schafer warned that the deadly defect remains in older, non-recalled Toyotas. In fact, 11 owners of similar Toyota models testified at the hearing that they have experienced the same sudden, unintentional acceleration in their cars. Mr. Hilliard says prosecutors in at least three states are reevaluating cases of fatal accidents involving older Toyotas, and that the “Toyota Defense” used in Mr. Lee’s trial could help in those cases.

In a recent interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Hilliard said:

"I know there is at least one fellow in Oregon who's serving time whose lawyers have contacted me to take a look at his Toyota. He claimed that he was with his daughter in the middle of the day and it took off on him and there was a fatality. I know the prosecutor in Florida and perhaps California is considering charges and is reevaluating charges for two different individuals because they were driving Toyotas."