State and defense rest in Brewer trial

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — The fate of the former truck driver accused of a deadly crash will soon be in the hands of a jury.

After hearing closing arguments, they were read jury instructions. Before that the defense presented its case.

On the third day of Benjamin Brewer’s trial the defense presented its case to the jury by bringing a truck driver and pharmacist to the stand. Brewer is accused of driving his semi impaired, crashing into traffic on I-75 and killing six people in June of 2015. Truck driver Todd Fortune says he was driving behind Brewer and witnessed the crash.

“My following distance was about seven truck lengths, with is about 480 feet. It was right around 500 feet. I was well back from him,” Fortune said.

He says nothing about Brewer’s driving stood out.

“Did you notice anything about his driving? Anything remarkable about his driving?” a lawyer asked.

“No,” Fortune said.

He says he saw Brewer brake when there was a car the was in between a lane and the ramp.

“He was bailing out to that way and he caught that car with the right hand side of his bumper. Okay and when he did that there was a violent explosion,” Fortune said.

They then brought a pharmacist to the stand, who did not think TBI’s blood test results were accurate.

“It is not the best work I have reviewed. Is that really methamphetamine? My conclusion is no. There is hints of that in there because of the non alignment of those particular items you are looking for,” said Dr. Robert Belloto.