CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A judge has postponed the trial of a truck driver charged with killing six people in a 2015 interstate crash and ordered the selection of a new jury, following the revelation of new evidence.
News outlets report that Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole said Monday that prosecutors knew about a retest of Benjamin Brewer's blood that found a lower amount of methamphetamine in his system. Public defenders did not find out about the retest until days before the trial which is scheduled to start on June 19. Poole said prosecutors didn't "willfully" suppress the evidence, but it was relevant and potentially helpful to Brewer.
Poole granted the postponement last Friday and dismantled the 16-person, out-of-county jury.
Prosecutors and defenders will suggest new trial dates to the judge Wednesday.