Day three of Chance Loftis' murder trial did not provide the jury with many answers, but clarified one thing: Bud Light was present on that April night in 2012 when Donald "Pee Wee" Rogers, Travis Jenkins and Loftis went camping.
Loftis is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated cruelty to an animal, as both Rogers and his Yorkie terrier were found dead in the Tennessee River near the Grasshopper Creek Recreation Area the night after the three men went camping.
Jenkins also is charged in Rogers' killing and will be tried separately.
Boxes of evidence were submitted to the court on Friday afternoon, and in many of them were cans of Bud Light. Pictures taken at the scene of the crime and shown on a projector also showed can after can of the beer.
Some of the cans were open and empty, others sealed. They were found in a backpack, in the boat where Rogers' body was found and at the campsite where the men allegedly were the night before Rogers' death.
The significance of the evidence was not made known to the jury on Friday, but both Assistant District Attorney Jason Demastus and defense attorney Mary Sullivan Moore meticulously questioned Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Detective Robin Langford about the evidence and the process he went through to collect and record it.
At the end of the day, after the jury had left, Judge Don Poole told both lawyers that he wanted the trial speeded up.
He said he hopes that the prosecution will rest its case by Tuesday afternoon, though Demastus said he has at least five or six witnesses left to testify.
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6592.