Brady Francis was likely standing when struck, pathologist tells hit-and-run trial

Brady Francis suffered blunt force trauma to his skull, his liver was lacerated, his left lung showed signs of trauma and multiple abrasions covered most of his body, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified Tuesday at the hit-and-run trial of Maurice Johnson.

"In my opinion, he died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck" consistent with a motor vehicle collision, Dr. Ken Obenson told the Moncton Court of Queen's Bench.

The body of Francis, 22, of Elsipogtog First Nation, was found on Saint-Charles South Road in Saint-Charles on Feb. 24, 2018, at around 9:40 p.m.

Johnson, 57, of Saint-Charles has pleaded not guilty to failing to stop at the scene of an accident that caused a person's death.

Obenson, who performed the autopsy at the Saint John Regional Hospital on Feb. 25, 2018, testified he believes Francis was standing at the moment of impact and may have been projected onto the vehicle that struck him.

He was unable to determine if Francis was struck head-on, from the side, or from behind, he said.

Francis was intoxicated at the time, with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.29, Obenson found — about three-and-a-half times the legal limit.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Francis had been at a diaper party for a friend who was expecting a baby.

He was seen afterward walking along the road and had called his parents to ask for a ride home. By the time they arrived minutes later, they found their son's body lying face-up on the side of the road.

The trial is scheduled to continue on Wednesday morning, when the Crown is expected to call its final witnesses.

The defence plans to call four witnesses. It's not yet clear whether Johnson will testify in his own defence.

Wife drank 8 beers in truck

The court has watched the videotaped statement Johnson gave to RCMP on March 15, 2018, following his arrest. In the roughly four-hour video, Johnson told police he was drinking Diet Pepsi the night Francis was killed, and didn't consume any alcohol or drugs.

Johnson said his wife drank eight beers while they drove around in his pickup truck between around 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., tossing the empties along the way, but he was behind the wheel when struck what he initially thought was a deer.

Cpl. Nicholas Potvin alleged Johnson "got scared" the night of the collision and urged him to "own up."

"This is your chance to correct the mistake you made by telling the truth," Potvin said in French.

The officer noted other people reported seeing Francis walking along the road that night and questioned why Johnson did not. He suggested something was affecting his judgment.

Johnson repeatedly told the officer he wasn't drinking that day. Although he drank when he was younger, he drinks "almost never now," he said in French.

His wife sometimes drinks a bottle of wine on the weekends. "Me? I stay at home and watch Netflix and drink my coffee."

The last time he drank was about three weeks before the accident, when he bought a case of 12 beers, he said. "I don't do drugs," he added.

'Do the right thing'

During the first part of the interview, played for the court on Monday, Johnson said he and his wife were talking during their leisure drive and he turned his head to look at her for a moment. When he turned back, there was a deer in front of his truck and he didn't have time to brake, he said.

He stopped and looked back, but didn't see anything, so he thought the animal had run off and they kept going, he said. "If I thought it had been a person, I would have stopped."

As the interview continued, Potvin questioned whether Johnson would have been scared if he had stopped and had police arrived. "Would they have found anything in your vehicle?"

Johnson said he wouldn't have been scared, and asked the officer about speaking to his lawyer.

Potvin told Johnson he had already spoken to his lawyer and that he was not obliged to answer any more questions. But he said Johnson was the only one who could "complete the puzzle … of what really happened that night" and he pressed him to "do the right thing."

"You're a good person, Maurice, a hard worker, a family man, a father, a husband," he said. "Give closure to the [Francis] family."

"I saw what I saw," replied Johnson. "I did not see a person."

Potvin also grilled the accused about being unsure where the collision occurred.

Johnson told a friend it was on Gray Road, while he told an officer the day Francis's body was discovered that it was on Saint-Charles North Road, and Potvin that it was on Saint-Charles South Road.

Johnson said he knew he turned off Gray Road and went left and left again and that it was on one of those roads, but he wasn't sure exactly where because "it was just a deer."

Francis's body was found 1.8 kilometres from Johnson's house, the courtroom heard.

Johnson told police he drove home, watched TV and went to bed around 11 p.m.

Potvin asked if he noticed the police cars that drove past his house after Francis's body was discovered. Johnson said he did not.

The trial began last week and has heard from 32 witnesses so far. It is scheduled to continue until Jan. 31.

Justice Denise LeBlanc is presiding.