Anonymous ID: 240288 Feb. 26, 2019, 6:47 p.m. No.5405850   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>5866 >>6013 >>6286 >>6368 >>6381

Drug evidence, testimony tossed from fatal GOP train crash trial

 

Crucial drug-related evidence and testimony will be excluded from the trial of a trash truck driver charged in a deadly 2018 train crash.

 

In Albemarle Circuit Court on Tuesday, Judge Cheryl Higgins granted a defense motion to exclude expert testimony and evidence that the commonwealth argued would prove Dana Naylor Jr. was impaired by THC at the time of the crash.

 

Naylor is charged with involuntary manslaughter and maiming under the influence after authorities said he drove a Time Disposal trash truck onto the tracks in Crozet, colliding with a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress, killing Christopher Foley and gravely injuring Dennis Eddy.

 

However, the argument for the DUI charge has been thrown into uncertainty after Higgins ruled to exclude testimony from Dr. Jayne Thatcher, a forensic toxicology expert.

 

Outside the presence of the jury, Higgins listened to testimony from Thatcher about levels of THC — tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active ingredient in marijuana — found in Naylor’s blood and whether that could be used to prove impairment.

 

Approximately five hours after the crash on Jan. 31, 2018, the Albemarle County Police Department obtained a warrant to draw Naylor’s blood. The warrant was obtained using claims from Detective Mike Wells that Naylor “smelled of beer,” during an interview at the University of Virginia Medical Center. According to earlier testimony, Naylor’s blood sample tested negative for alcohol but tested positive for THC.

 

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https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/courts/drug-evidence-testimony-tossed-from-fatal-train-crash-trial/article_42259010-3a32-11e9-8357-c33ed604d282.amp.html