Jurors will not be visiting the Interstate 75 crime scene where a truck driver plowed into stopped traffic, killing six and injuring several others, a judge ruled this morning.
Public defenders argued last month that jurors would have better insights into the traffic conditions Benjamin Brewer, 41, encountered when he ran into stopped traffic on June 25, 2015, if they could visit the area.
Criminal Court judge Don Poole denied the request today, saying forensic evidence would work better and that it would avoid putting jurors in any kind of potentially dangerous situation.
The trial is scheduled to begin June 19. Attorneys will pick jurors in Nashville June 12 and then they will be transported back to Chattanooga in a bus.
Prosecutors say Brewer was high on drugs and had been driving too long when the wreck occurred.
His defense countered that authorities illegally seized several pieces of evidence when they detained Brewer on scene but didn't formally arrest him.
Brewer remains in Hamilton County Jail and faces six counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of reckless aggravated assault, and one count of driving under the influence, violation of motor carrier regulations and speeding.