Brent’s Night on the Town Takes Center Stage at Trial

Prosecutors rested their case against former defensive tackle Josh Brent Thursday after presenting testimony from two Dallas Cowboys players who were with Brent the night of a crash that left a practice squad player dead.

Brent is accused of drunkenly wrecking his Mercedes and killing practice squad player Jerry Brown in December 2012.

Safeties Barry Church and Danny McCray testified Thursday that they played video games with Brent on Dec. 7, 2012, before going to dinner and a Dallas nightclub.

Both have said they saw Brent drinking that night but could not say how much he had to drink.

Several other witnesses testified Thursday morning about Brent's wrecked car and his night out on the town.

Collision expert Tim Lovett used pictures of the wrecked Mercedes to describe the damage. He concluded the vehicle was in good working order before the wreck, the damage was consistent with a single vehicle rollover accident and the cause was intoxication.

Lovett's written report said "there was nothing located that would have prevented the driver's ability to go, stop or turn prior to the collision."

Irving Police Officer Krista Meyer discussed photographs she took of the burning wreckage and of victim Jerry Brown at the hospital.

The photo of Brown on a hospital gurney showed head wounds he received in the wreck.

Brent silently watched the photos on a courtroom video screen.

Cocktail waitress Ashley Price from Eddie V's restaurant in Dallas testified about serving Brent and several other Dallas Cowboys on the evening before the accident.

Their bill of $747 was split on three credit cards and it included 3 bottles of wine, two double shots of Courvoisier and 8 shots of Tuaca liquor along with food and appetizers.

But during two hours at the restaurant Price said Brent had only the Courvoisier along with a 16-ounce steak and appetizers and he did not appear to be intoxicated.

Price said the wine was served to women at an adjacent table.

After Eddie V's, Brent and several other Cowboys were seen in a surveillance video at Club Privae, a nightclub off Stemmons Freeway.

Waitress Maria Fimbres from the club testified that she served Brent's table a bottle of Hennessy cognac.

But on cross-examination, Fimbres said she only saw Brent drink one serving of Hennessy with a cola.

The waitress said she and bouncers at the club were trained to recognize intoxicated patrons.

Fimbres said she had seen Brent intoxicated on a previous occasion when she first met him in July of 2012 but that he was not intoxicated on December 8, 2012.

"I thought he was sober," Fimbres said.

Defense attorneys have attacked state evidence showing Brent had a .18 blood alcohol level after the accident.

A prior state witness concluded Brent would need to consume about 17 alcoholic beverages in order to reach that blood alcohol level.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins was in the courtroom for a portion of the morning testimony Thursday.

Brent faces 20 years in prison if convicted either of manslaughter or intoxication manslaughter in the death of his friend, who was also a teammate of Brent's at the University of Illinois.

The jury will return to court Friday morning.