By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Defense in boating death trial focuses on collision
Case to go to jury today
0220trial 1
Boating collision reconstruction expert Phil Odom testifies for the defense Wednesday in the Hall County Superior Court trial in Gainesville of Jeffrey Simon Hubbard of Atlanta, charged with homicide by vessel and other charges in the July 2012 death of 11-year-old Kile Glover on Lake Lanier. Hubbard’s defense team is challenging the investigation of DNR officers. - photo by NAT GURLEY
A Hall County jury will begin deliberating today as it seeks to determine if a Lake Lanier fatality was merely an accident, or a crime perpetrated by the defendant’s recklessness. Defense witness and boating collision expert Phil Odom said Wednesday that Atlanta man Jeffrey Hubbard was neither reckless or at fault in the July 6, 2012, collision that caused the death of 11-year-old Kile Glover and seriously injured Alpharetta teen Jordan Shepp, then 15. Odom said the pontoon boat, which had begun towing the kids on a raft by most accounts, “should have taken action to avoid the collision.”