The trial for a man accused in a fatal hit-and-run will continue in the spring.
Christian Hernandez, who is charged with impaired driving and failure to remain at the scene of a collision in connection with the 2010 death of Richard Carmichael, will have his trial resume on March 20, 2014 at the Ontario Court of Justice.
The 45-year-old Carmichael was a pedestrian on North High Street in the early morning hours of Dec. 19, 2010 when he was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by Hernandez.
According to an agreed statement of facts, a witness called police around 3:10 a.m. on Dec. 19 to report a body laying on High Street near the Van Norman intersection.
Paramedics found Carmichael laying on his stomach in a pool of blood and rushed him to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, where he was pronounced dead at 3:58 a.m.
An autopsy report concluded that Carmichael died as a result of bilateral pneumothorax from multiple injuries caused by blunt force trauma.
When the trial resumes, the defence is expected to refute evidence that was ruled admissible last month.
Justice Joyce Pelletier ruled in November that a 911 call made by Hernandez’s girlfriend reporting the collision would be admissible into evidence, along with breath samples provided shortly after the incident.
At 4:58 a.m., Hernandez, who was 25 at the time, had 140 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milligrams of blood in his system; at 5:19 a.m., he had 120 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milligrams of blood.
Hernandez testified earlier this year that he thought he had hit a deer.
