JUDGE REFUSES TO REQUIRE HAIR SAMPLES FROM WITNESSES IN HUGHES SHOOTING CASE

PRESTON BREWER’S DEFENSE ATTORNEY SOUGHT TO IMPEACH WITNESSES’ TESTIMONY WITH HAIR TESTING

MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com

An April 26 hearing in the case against Lloyd Preston Brewer III, who is accused of fatally shooting Garrett Hughes outside a Key West bar on Feb. 13, ended with the judge refusing to force witnesses to provide hair samples for drug testing.

Brewer, 57, has been in jail since the Feb. 13 shooting death of Hughes, who was 21 when he was shot in the parking lot of Conch Town Liquor & Lounge on North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West, a few hours after the Super Bowl had ended.

Brewer, whose family owns the building that houses the bar, faces felony murder and firearms charges. His defense attorney, Chris Mancini, at the April 26 hearing before Judge Mark Wilson, argued that hair samples for drug testing should be taken from the three witnesses who were present that night with the victim. One of the witnesses, Carson Hughes, is Garrett Hughes’ brother.

Toxicology reports taken during Hughes’ autopsy showed a bloodalcohol limit of 0.24, which is three times the legal limit for driving, as well as evidence of cannabinoids in his blood and urine.

Monroe County Medical Examiner Michael Steckbauer, who conducted the autopsy, noted that the level of cannabinoids after death was not necessarily a reliable indicator, as substances often get “redistributed post-mortem.”

Mancini said during the hearing that Garrett Hughes had a medical marijuana card. Mancini also said that video footage from the bar that night showed Garrett Hughes and the witnesses passing something back and forth that “with great likelihood was a marijuana cigarette.”

He told the judge that hair samples for drug testing would provide evidence as to whether the witnesses were under the influence and to what degree that would have influenced their perception and reactions to what happened that night.

“It also goes to the witnesses’ willingness to testify to their own illegal activities,” Mancini said.

The defense attorney said the video footage of the actual shooting shows that “Garrett Hughes aggressively turned toward Mr. Brewer in the parking lot.”

Prosecutor Joe Mansfield, in his argument against the hair samples, told the judge that what Mancini described as a marijuana cigarette was actually a Black & Mild cigarillo.

Mansfield further told the judge, “What Mr. Mancini says he sees in the videos is not what I see. The only person who appears to be agitated is the defendant, who reaches into his waistband, pulls out a firearm and begins to march toward Garrett Hughes.”

Ultimately, Judge Wilson denied the defense’s request for hair samples from the three witnesses, Carson Hughes, Blake Arencibia and Logan Pellicier. Wilson cited legal precedent and said, “It’s not that their level of intoxication wouldn’t be relevant or helpful to impeach their testimony, but legal precedent prevails.”

If the hair samples would serve to place a person at a crime scene, or exclude them as a suspect, Judge Wilson said, that would be a different scenario, “so I’ll deny the motion.”

“The witnesses are not direct parties to this case, and have a right to privacy,” Judge Wilson ruled.

A second hearing was scheduled for 3 p.m. on the afternoon of April 26 (after presstime) involving the civil wrongful death case that Hughes’ family filed against Brewer. That hearing was scheduled to involve the freezing of Brewer’s financial assets. Stay tuned to keysweekly.com for more information.