by Thaddeus Flint
The fate of Brendan Hoffman, the 22 year old Stephentown man accused of manslaughter and homicide charges, as well as leaving the scene of a 2012 accident, now lies in the hands of the jury.
The trial, which began on March 25, wrapped up with closing arguments at the Rensselaer County Court House in Troy on Wednesday.
[private]As both sides made their arguments to the jury, before Judge Debra Young, Hoffman stared blankly, showing little emotion.
Christopher Baker, a 24 year old RPI student and son of Stephentown attorney Brian Baker, was thrown from a car in the early morning hours of June 28, 2012.
A witness, identified as Levi Borghi, said that seconds before the crash he had been narrowly missed by the car moving at high speed on Cranston Hill Road in Stephentown. He said that following the crash Hoffman was picked up and taken from the scene by a woman in another car.
Sheriffs’ Deputies investigating were not aware that there had been a passenger in the car until Hoffman’s father called later that morning. Along with Stephentown firefighters they then searched and found Baker’s body about 100 feet from the crash off the other side of the road in a wooded area.
During the trial witnesses testified that both Hoffman and Baker were drinking and smoking marijuana at the Bakers’ house the night of the accident.
Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney Michael Shanley maintained that Hoffman was driving while drunk and high. After the car flipped, said Shanley, Baker was ejected, and Hoffman climbed out and left the scene of the accident with Amber Walker of Petersburgh, who happened to be passing by at the time. Walker took Hoffman to her house where he hid in a back room when police came looking for him.
But defense attorney Peter Moschetti said Baker, not Hoffman, was driving the car. An expert witness testified that his analysis of the data shows that Hoffman could not have been the driver.
Shanley dismissed much of the expert’s testimony, shaking his head when the expert said he used “ferns and shadows” in his recreation of the accident. “You were able to find the same ferns? Two years later?” he asked. “Experts will get you any results you want,” said Shanley.
Shanley said that Hoffman left the scene of the accident because he was the driver. “Why would you do that if you are the passenger?” Shanley said to the jury. “If you’re the passenger, you know somebody else was driving in the car. What are you running from?”
Moschetti however maintained that the prosecution failed to produce their own experts. “There must be proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “Are there reasonable doubts? Of course there are,” he said.
Deliberations are scheduled to begin at 9 am Thursday.
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