Trial Approaches For DUI Manslaughter Suspect

The impact came out of nowhere.

"My first inclination (that) there was going to be a ... collision was when glass flew at me and I started going over," James Borman said.

Borman climbed through the busted windshield of his toppled freight truck and peered into the inky darkness. A pickup appeared to be on its roof in the median, two maybe three people trapped underneath. A young woman was stumbling around the wreckage.

Borman, 65, reached for his cell phone to call 911. It was coated in blood.

A witness to the violent crash approached him and asked if he was OK. I'm fine, Borman told him, just get some help for those people.

That's the scene Borman recreated for lawyers during a deposition this year and, depending on the outcome of a court hearing today, it will be testimony for a trial starting next Monday.

Jurors will have to decide if a 23-year-old Bushnell man is guilty of five DUI charges, including the manslaughter of a 19-year-old local soldier.

Investigators say Rickey Scroggins Jr. drove through a red light at Powell Road and Broad Street around 5 a.m. on April 27, 2007, and into the path of Borman's oncoming truck.

The impact killed Andrew Cuthbertson of Brooksville and seriously injured Scroggins, his girlfriend and Cuthbertson's girlfriend. Cuthbertson, who went by "Andy," was recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and had just returned home for two weeks leave.

Scroggins was arrested three months later and has since posted an $83,000 bond. Calls to Scroggins and his attorney, A.R. Mander, were not returned Wednesday.

Mander has filed a motion to suppress the statements Scroggins made to Florida Highway Patrol investigators at the hospital immediately after the crash.

His argument is that Scroggins was in shock, possibly under the influence of medication and in severe pain. When a nurse asked Scroggins to rate his pain on a scale of 1 to 10, the suspect reportedly replied "12."

Mander also points out that Scroggins complained that he was cold, a symptom of shock. He implies through his questions that the troopers bullied Scroggins into answering his questions and that his client was not fully aware of what was going on.

"Do you think it's reasonable as a police officer to place somebody under oath and take a sworn statement from them when they're still being evaluated for a fractured skull and shock?" Mander asked.

Sgt. Lee Frye answered that it was important to get fresh information so that victims don't add to their statements later on.

The phlebotomist who took a blood sample from Scroggins told lawyers that she personally didn't see a point in testing for alcohol.

"The smell in the room was enough that the one girl that was with me couldn't draw it because she was getting nauseous from the smell of alcohol," she said.

Mander challenged the implication that the smell of alcohol was coming from Scroggins specifically.