61-year-old Derek Geary has waited more than three years in jail for this; as Blount County Circuit Court Judge David R. Duggan excused jurors for lunch ahead of attorneys’ closing arguments Thursday afternoon, defense attorney Robert White again moved for the court to, if not acquit his client, then at least allow a mitigating defense of duress or necessity.
Neither was accepted. The evidence, Duggan said, would stand as presented to jurors, whose job would be to decide how the defendant acted and what, if any, level of responsibility he should face for the 2022 accident that killed 34-year-old William Carroll.
Geary faces charges of second-degree murder, vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless endangerment — one for each of his grandchildren reportedly in his vehicle at the time of the accident — after he allegedly crashed into Carroll’s 2017 Nissan Altima just ahead of the West Hunt Road underpass along Alcoa Highway (U.S. 129) around 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17…