The attorney for 32-year-old James Brown has filed an omnibus pre-trial motion, seeking to dismiss homicide by vehicle charges against his client, bar the use of blood test evidence, and change the venue for the trial.
Brown is accused of crashing a car into Pikel’s Top Tier Fuels in Home last July, trapping and killing 52-year-old Melissa Myers of Commodore, who was working inside the gas station building, which caught fire when the car burst into flames.
The motion was filed Monday. Brown is charged with six felony offenses, including two counts of accidents involving death or personal injury while not licensed and single counts of homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while DUI, and aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, along with two counts of misdemeanor DUI and nine summary traffic violations.
After first denying that he was the driver of the car, he later told state police that he was behind the wheel when the car left Route 119, plowed over a fuel pump, and slammed into the building. He also admitted to doing heroin and smoking marijuana before the crash.
A hearing on the motion is set for February 13th.
