The jury trial for a Key West man accused of murdering 21-year-old Garrett Hughes outside a local bar in the predawn hours following Super Bowl Sunday is now set for Nov. 6 at the Monroe County Courthouse.
But before the murder case – a rare violent crime in the Florida Keys – goes before a jury at the Freeman Justice Center on Fleming Street, the shooter’s defense team wants the judge to silence Monroe County prosecutors and the lawyer representing the victim’s family in a wrongful death civil lawsuit against defendant Lloyd Preston Brewer.
Brewer, 57, is charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting Hughes, a standout athlete who became a volunteer coach for local kids and had a wide circle of friends in Key West. His father is Key West High School football coach John Hughes.
Garrett Hughes had been drinking at Conch Town Liquor and Lounge, 3340 N. Roosevelt Blvd, a building owned by Brewer’s family, on Super Bowl Sunday.
Brewer is seen on security footage from Feb. 13 approaching Hughes from behind as a shirtless Hughes was urinating on a building adjacent to Conch Town – a building Brewer does not own. Brewer appears to speak to Hughes, who then collapses to the ground from a single gunshot to his stomach, prosecutors said.
Brewer called 911 to report the shooting while standing over Hughes – saying the young man “came at him aggressively” – and was later arrested at the scene. Shortly after the call, Hughes was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center and pronounced dead.
Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward and his Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield have gone way too far with speaking to the press about Brewer, according to Jerome Ballarotto, Brewer’s attorney who has offices in Trenton, New Jersey and Key West.
After the killing, Mansfield told Keys Weekly: “I suspect the shooter was annoyed by what he saw, confronted the kid, then pulls a gun and shoots him in the stomach, which proved fatal,” and said Hughes was clearly unarmed and did nothing to provoke Brewer.
The statements have likely hurt Brewer’s chances for a fair trial in Key West, Ballarotto says.
“Both individuals should be immediately sanctioned by this court for their knowing, intentional and repeated attempts to taint the small jury pool in this island community, in direct violation of the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” Ballarotto wrote in a court filing.
“The excessive pretrial comment by the family’s attorneys and the state and the excessive amount of pretrial publicity in a small island community have already prejudiced the defendant,” Ballarotto added in his motion to silence public statements by prosecutors and attorney Stuart Grossman, who represents the Hughes family.
Grossman, who filed a wrongful death civil suit against Brewer on behalf of the Hughes family, has been quoted in the press saying Garrett Hughes’ killing has devastated the entire community, and said Brewer is a “known, habitual drunkard.”
Brewer, who is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and violation of a concealed firearm permit, hasn’t left the county jail since his arrest after the killing. He remains locked up without bond.
Monroe County Judge Mark Wilson is scheduled to hear the defense’s motion for the gag order on Sept. 1.
In April, locals organized the Garrett Hughes Benefit Concert at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater to create a scholarship fund created to honor the 21-year-old. The event raised more than $50,000, organizers said.
