BREAKING: Verdict Expected Shortly in Conchtown Shooter Trial
Panel nears five hours without questions. Parties to the case have been notified a verdict is at hand.
Ed. Note: Above the Fold is live at the Monroe County Court House in Key West awaiting word on a jury verdict in the murder trial of Lloyd Preston Brewer.
Jurors in the Conchtown Shooter trial of Lloyd Preston Brewer, 60, Are expected to deliver a verdict shortly after deliberating Tuesday afternoon at the Monroe County Courthouse, nearing five hours without submitting questions to the court.
The jury has not asked Circuit Judge Mark Jones for clarification on jury instructions or evidence, steps that often signal movement toward a decision in complex cases.
It was not clear which way the jury was leaning. However, based on the evidence presented at trial and the charges before the panel, an acquittal appeared unlikely.
Brewer is charged in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Garrett Hughes outside Conchtown Liquor and Lounge, a bar and liquor store on North Roosevelt Boulevard adjacent to Peacock Plaza in Searstown Plaza, following Super Bowl LVII. Prosecutors allege Brewer shot Hughes after confronting him for urinating on a building adjacent to the Conchtown Parking Lot. The defense has argued Brewer acted in self-defense.
Jurors are considering charges that include first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree murder.
This is an evolving story. Watch this space.