DUI Trial Opens

BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE A jury was chosen Tuesday morning to decide whether a man is responsible for killing his best friend in a drunken-driving crash.
Prosecutors say Brian Gomes, 26, was behind the wheel of a Chevy Tahoe that was speeding away from a deputy.
They blame him for the death of Marc Collins, who was supposedly riding passenger when the Tahoe flipped onto its roof and skidded to a halt.
But Gomes' attorney sees it differently.
After all, it wasn't until a year later in 2006 that the Florida Highway Patrol reversed course and named Gomes as the driver.
Gomes' case trudged through the judicial process until October 2007, when prosecutors couldn't pull together the witnesses needed for a trial. The judge refused to keep it going, so the State Attorney's Office re-filed charges of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
On Tuesday, it all came to a head.
The night of Dec. 3, 2005, was reconstructed through a host of witnesses, beginning with a friend who described a night of boozing with Collins and Gomes.
Legends Pub was the starting line about 7 p.m., when the friend and Collins got together for a few beers.
Gomes joined them later and together they passed the time shooting pool and hanging out. Their night continued on to a party, then later at a club in Pasco County, where Collins, Gomes and the friend stayed until close.
Up until that point, Gomes had driven after each stop, though the friend added that he never feared for his safety.
They returned to their friend's house and left with a bottle of gin. It was around 2:30 a.m.
A deputy saw the dark-green Tahoe weaving along the streets of Spring Hill and flipped on the lights. The Tahoe didn't stop and actually began speeding up.
"Was it erratic driving?" asked Assistant State Attorney Bill Catto.
"Absolutely" was the reply.
The deputy kept behind them until Pickford Street, between Landover Boulevard and Palomar Street. That's where the Tahoe veered off the road and rammed a mailbox, telephone pole and a telephone box.
Then it flipped onto its roof.
"I heard the roar of a car engine then a loud boom," a resident on Pickford told jurors.
The neighbor came outside and saw one man, later identified as Gomes, walking around the Tahoe, another laying halfway out the passenger side window, Collins.
The most emotional testimony of the day almost never reached the ears of jurors. Gomes' attorney, Peyton Hyslop, argued that it was Caitlin Cartier's testimony about a phone call was hearsay and that his client had no way to confront his witness.
But Circuit Judge Jack Springstead allowed the testimony under the lone exception to hearsay. Because the statement was an "excited utterance," there was no chance for Collins to fabricate it, the judge said.
Her testimony went like this:
Just before the wreck, Collins called her, but she didn't answer right away.
When she noticed the missed call on her cell phone she redialed the number. Someone picked up, then dropped the phone.
Up until this point, Cartier kept her composure, but it melted after this question from Catto:
"What did you hear?"
Cartier began to sob.
It was Collins, she said; he was scared.
"What was he saying?"
"Stop the car, stop the car."
Then the sound of metal crashing and the call went dead.