.......During a pretrial conference hearing Tuesday in Viera, Florida Circuit Judge Meryl Allawas designated the trial as a “priority” for her Dec. 1-12 trial docket, with the understanding that it may have to be canceled if defense attorney Greg Eisenmenger or the state’s witnesses cannot move existing schedule conflicts. Police said Lane’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he crossed a double yellow line to pass several cars near Melbourne Beach, striking Morelock’s motor scooter head-on. Eisenmenger and Assistant State Attorney Tom Brown said they expect Lane’s trial to last up to two weeks, and that they anticipate pre-trial publicity could result in a lengthy jury selection process. Under Florida State Laws Lane, 38, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on one count of DUI manslaughter in connection with a Labor Day 2006 traffic accident in which 56-year-old Sebastian Inlet park ranger Gerald Morelock died. (I remind everybody that I will not make any personal comments other than the ones I wrote October 4, 2006 and that you can read again here).
Update 11/21/08: The trial was tentatively rescheduled for Feb. 9, 2009 before Circuit Judge Robert Burger.