Day 1 of the Conchtown Shooter murder trial opened Wednesday in a packed Key West courtroom, where nearly 60 members of the Hughes family and their supporters filled the gallery as proceedings got underway before the Honorable Mark Jones. The high-profile case may be among the final major trials of Jones’ career ahead of his expected retirement this fall.
Opening arguments began around 9:45 a.m. in the case against defendant Preston Brewer, who authorities confirmed has been held in custody at the Monroe County Detention Center since the night of the shooting, not under house arrest as has circulated in public comments.
As jurors heard testimony detailing the final moments of 21-year-old Garrett Hughes’ life, Brewer sat at the defense table without a tie, slouched low in his chair. At times, observers said, he appeared almost unconcerned as witnesses recounted the confrontation and gunfire.
Prosecutors told jurors that Hughes was confronted and ultimately shot after urinating on a building adjacent to a rear parking lot near Conchtown Liquor & Lounge — a building Brewer did not own. Testimony established that Brewer owned the nearby parking lot and a separate building, but not the structure where Hughes was urinating.
Lead prosecutor Colleen Dunne opened the state’s case by placing jurors back on the night of Feb. 13, 2023, following the Super Bowl.
“Let’s get this trial started,” Dunne told the jury. “It was late in the evening after the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, 2023. It was the battle of the Kelce brothers — and the Taylor Swift Super Bowl. But we aren’t here for that. We are here because it was the last Super Bowl Garrett Hughes would ever watch.”
Brewer is accused of fatally shooting Hughes during a confrontation that unfolded moments later behind the bar. He has pleaded not guilty. Prior to trial, Brewer sought immunity under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, but that defense was rejected after a hearing, allowing the case to proceed to trial.
After opening statements concluded, the state began presenting witnesses. Hughes’ lifelong friends Blake Arencibia and Logan Pellecier testified that they tried to get Hughes’ attention shortly before the shooting and warned him that Brewer had a gun, but were unable to stop the encounter.
Both witnesses testified that they never heard Brewer verbally warn Hughes that he had a gun, nor did they hear anyone say the word “gun,” testimony prosecutors said directly undercut the defense narrative.
Arencibia further testified that after the shooting he immediately called 911 and began rendering aid to Hughes. He told jurors he is a trained EMT and a member of the Key West Fire Department, and that he attempted lifesaving measures while Hughes lay critically wounded.
The state then called Mellisa Roberts, who became visibly emotional as she described what she witnessed that night. Roberts testified that Brewer appeared irritated inside the bar and exchanged words with one of her friends, who later turned to her and said, “Somebody pissed in his corn flakes.”
Roberts said she stepped into the parking lot to smoke a cigarette when she saw Brewer walking “aggressively” toward Hughes while carrying a firearm in a concealed waistband holster. She testified she was within several yards of the two men.
She told jurors she saw Brewer strike Hughes with the gun and then fire a shot upward into Hughes’ abdomen. As she recounted the moments leading up to the shooting, Roberts choked up and told jurors that Hughes “was just peeing on the wall.” She testified that she heard a second gunshot, though investigators later determined that no second round was recovered.
Roberts further testified that after the shooting she heard Brewer use Siri on his phone to call 911, calmly telling dispatchers that he had shot someone. She described Brewer’s demeanor as “calm and collected… cold blooded.”
Roberts also testified that she never heard Brewer warn Hughes that he had a gun, aligning her account with the testimony of Arencibia and Pellecier.
Prosecutors told jurors that video footage from the area corroborated the testimony of the first three witnesses, confirming that Hughes did not have anything in his hands at the time of the conflagration.
The state also called Ashley Whelan, who testified that she was the bartender serving Brewer that night and that she had seen him at Conchtown Liquor & Lounge on numerous prior occasions, “pretty much whenever” she was working.
Despite that familiarity, Whelan told jurors that something felt off about Brewer that night. She testified that he appeared irritated and, at times, rude. Whelan said that after the bar had largely emptied prior to the shooting, Brewer told her he planned to “stick around a little longer because there was something nice to look at,” a comment she understood to be directed at her and described as rude and insulting.
During cross-examination and argument, defense attorney Jerry Ballarotto attempted to persuade jurors that Brewer warned Hughes he was armed and suggested Hughes may have been holding a broken beer bottle, asking, “Could this be a deadly weapon in the hands of a 21-year-old, ripped athlete?”
Prosecutors said that theory was contradicted by witness testimony and the video evidence shown to jurors. All three witnesses testified that Hughes had nothing in his hands and that they never heard any verbal warning about a gun.
Dunne later explained to the jury that Brewer’s firearm was loaded with Black Talon hollow-point ammunition, which expands on impact. She said forensic evidence showed the wound was a close-contact injury, citing gunpowder residue on Hughes’ abdomen.
According to Dunne, the upward trajectory of the bullet ruptured Hughes’ spleen and lacerated his liver. Hughes died at Lower Keys Medical Center before he could be airlifted to Miami for additional care.
Day 2 of the trial is scheduled to begin Friday at 9 a.m. Proceedings will be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook in conjunction with Key West High School’s Conch 5 student media program.
