TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Court To Hear Motion In Pedestrian Death Case

ADVERTISEMENT

By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: November 4, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - A judge will be asked on Wednesday to keep toxicology results out of evidence during the trial of a man accused of fatally striking a pedestrian with his car.
The motion was filed Oct. 22 as trial approaches for Jason Blair, 29, of Brooksville, who faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death.
In addition to throwing a wrinkle into Blair's case, the motion offers new details into the events surrounding the death of Anthony Morales, 35, on Feb. 18.
On that night, Blair was driving home from work as manager of the Hooters restaurant on Commercial Way. He had just passed Brooksville Regional Hospital when his car drew close to four people walking on the shoulder of Cortez Boulevard.
Blair tried to swerve when one of the people, Morales, appeared to fall into the path of his car, but it was too late, according to the motion. After striking Morales, Blair continued to his home on Buena Vista Drive, but he was pulled over by a Hernando County deputy, the motion states.
Without any questions from the deputy, Blair admitted he left the scene because he feared for his safety, the motion states. Blair added that as he drove off he saw the other three people running towards him, cursing.
In a later deposition, one of Morales' friends, Matthew Luppo, was asked if he would like to kill Blair. His response, according to the motion: "I could have at the time, because I was so upset and everything. I could have."
Blair was arrested by the deputy on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury. He soon bonded out and was home six hours later when authorities were notified that Morales had died at the hospital. This time, a Brooksville police officer went to Blair's home and took a blood sample from the suspect.
That test would later return positive results for two prescription drugs, alprazolam and oxycodone, and marijuana, according to the motion. Assistant State Attorney Don Barbee, the prosecutor in the case, has not modified the charges to make it a DUI. But he does intend to bring up the results in trial, which is what Blair's attorney, Ellis Faught Jr., wants to fight on Wednesday.
In a phone interview Monday, Faught repeated the assertions made in his motion that the drug results would prejudice and mislead a jury.
He added that the deputy talked with Blair barely five minutes after the crash and saw no need to perform field sobriety tests. The same holds true six hours later when the Brooksville officer went to Blair's house, Faught said.
"I think the law is on my side to keep out the results," Faught said.
But the results are not quantified, which is the key to whether this is admissible evidence or not, Barbee said.
Barbee is still waiting for a doctor's opinion on whether Blair could have been intoxicated at the time of the crash. If there's no evidence of intoxication, then Faught's "argument is well taken," Barbee said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT