Prosecution rests in hit-and-run case, jury deliberations start Friday

State rests in vehicular homicide case; defendant Jeremy Allen Lane will not testify

photo Jeremy Lane reenters the courtroom after a short recess Tuesday. Lane pleaded guilty to giving a false report and leaving the scene of an accident on Tuesday.

The prosecution has finished presenting its case in which a 26-year-old man is accused of hit-and-run in the death of a 42-year-old mother of two.

Jeremy Allen Lane will not testify on his own behalf, his attorneys said today in Hamilton County Criminal Court. Judge Don Poole is set to charge the jury at 9 a.m. Friday.

Jessica Hunt, a waitress who worked with Lane at Chattanooga Billiards Club, testified today that she and Lane were talking over a cell phone when he said, "Oh my God, I think I just hit someone" the morning of the fatal accident.

Lane is accused of running over Susan Wood on Dec. 23, 2009 as she was going to her job at Unum downtown.

Lane pleaded guilty Tuesday to leaving the scene of an accident and filing a false report. He is being tried on the remaining two counts of his indictment - DUI and vehicular homicide.

Hunt is the second waitress from the club to testify today.

Earlier, cocktail waitress Jessica Williams testified that she, Lane and another employee of the club smoked pot and drank beer the morning of the fatal accident.

Authorities say Lane left his work at the Chattanooga Billiard Club about 7 a.m., following an after-hours party at the club in which employees drank alcohol.

While driving toward North Shore, prosecutors allege, Lane hit Wood with his car at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth streets as the mother of two was walking to work.

For complete details, see tomorrow's Times Free Press.

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