Jeremy Lane reenters the courtroom after a short recess Tuesday. The grand jury trial of Lanes, who is accused of vehicular homicide in the 2009 death of Susan Wood, a Unum employee, began Tuesday afternoon with opening statements and the testimonies of the first witnesses for the state.A 26-year-old man accused of killing a woman with his car took time to buy chips and a citrus drink as he phoned in a fake carjacking report to cover the crime, according to testimony this morning in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
A gas station video shown in court this morning showed that minutes after prosecutors maintain Jeremy Lane struck Susan Wood with his car on Dec. 23, 2009, and called 911, he bought the items as he spoke with dispatchers.
Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston questioned the store clerk and Chattanooga police officers who found and photographed Lane's red Nissan 240SX sports car.
Lane's vehicular homicide trial began Tuesday in Judge Don Poole's courtroom.
Photographs of the car showed a dented hood and smashed passenger-side front windshield.
Testimony on Tuesday by forensic pathologist James Metcalfe matched injuries to Susan Wood with damage to the sports car.
Lane pleaded guilty Tuesday to filing a false report and leaving the scene of an accident. He is being tried on the remaining two counts of his indictment - DUI and vehicular homicide.
Pinkston and District Attorney General Bill Cox contend Lane left his work at the Chattanooga Billiards Club at about 7 a.m. on Dec. 23 following a four-hour, after-work there at which employees drank alcohol.
While driving toward the North Shore, prosecutors allege, Lane hit Wood with his car at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth streets as the 42-year-old mother of two walked to work at Unum.
Wood died from her injuries that day.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.