Court was in recess Wednesday in Licking County in the trial of the truck driver accused of causing the November 2023 crash that killed three Tusky Valley students and three adults who were accompanying the band on a field trip.
The defense attorney for 61-year-old Jacob McDonald of Zanesville will begin calling his witnesses on Thursday. Prosecutor Clifford Murphy finished calling his witnesses on Tuesday. They included responding law enforcement officials, the band director, a band member, the charter bus driver and other witnesses.
Defense attorney Chris Brigdon has indicated his witness list also includes Tusky Valley band members. Brigdon is trying to discredit the prosecution’s assertion that McDonald was distracted by his cell phone at the time of the crash. Since McDonald’s phone was destroyed in the crash, he suggested to State Highway Patrol Sgt. Trevor Jasper that there is no evidence that proves McDonald was looking at his phone. Jasper had previously testified that right before the crash, McDonald’s phone was receiving 38 megabytes of data per minute, consistent with a phone streaming high-definition video.
McDonald faces six counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and 26 total counts.
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