CARLTON -- Attorneys completed the second half of a continued hearing for Vanessa Brigan, the 27-year-old Cloquet woman charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide while under the influence of a controlled substance, in Carlton County Court on Thursday.
Brigan faces prosecution in connection with a crash that killed two Carlton County Highway Department workers near Wright on the morning of Oct. 1, 2012, while on her way back from a methadone clinic in Brainerd.
During the first part of the omnibus hearing, held in early August, two of three scheduled witnesses testified: a medical lab technician and Minnesota State Trooper Steven Erola. Trooper Mike Swanson was on vacation at the time of the August hearing and was the only witness at Thursday's hearing.
Swanson testified that he was the first law enforcement officer on the scene and therefore was the primary investigating officer.
"I direct the people at the scene, where to go, what to do," he said, explaining that other emergency personnel already were at the scene when he arrived to find two bodies on the roadway, the vehicles involved in the accident and several emergency vehicles.
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Swanson said he separated the three primary witnesses -- one person driving a car in front of the accident, another driving behind and one person who was involved -- in addition to the two surviving drivers.
"You don't want witnesses talking to each other because their stories start to meld," he said. "If one witness is on one side, they may see something different than a witness standing on the other side."
Swanson said he suspected something wasn't right when the other witnesses did not corroborate Brigan's explanation that she swerved to avoid a deer that caused her to cross the centerline and hit the pickup truck carrying the two highway workers.
During the first omnibus hearing, defense attorney John Lind told Judge Dale Harris he will contest evidence in three areas: statements made by Brigan on Oct. 1 before she was read her Miranda rights (which includes all the statements she made at the accident scene); items that were taken out of her vehicle with no search warrant (including methadone bottles and syringes); and the blood sample taken from Brigan at Community Memorial Hospital, also without a search warrant.
Thursday's hearing continued in the same vein, with Lind and Assistant Carlton County Attorney Jesse Berglund questioning Swanson about the accident scene and interviews with Brigan, the decision to place her in the back of a squad car while the investigation proceeded and the blood sample taken from Brigan and her subsequent arrest.
When testimony ended, Harris set a timeline for both sides to submit written arguments in the case.
The judge gave the defense three weeks to prepare his brief, and gave the prosecution two weeks to respond. Lind was granted a week for rebuttal after that.
"I want to have this ready to take under advisement (by Dec. 9)," Harris said. "I do this because Ms. Brigan has been in custody over a year."
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After both sides submit their evidence, the judge will decide what will be admissible if the case goes to trial. Harris did not set a date for Brigan's next hearing.
