A Milwaukee County jury is now weighing the testimony and evidence that was presented this week in the trial of a woman charged in the fatal crash of two Marquette University lacrosse players.
Amandria Brunner, 42, faces six felonies, including two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, in the Sept. 5, 2025, crash that ended the lives of Scott Michaud, 19, and Noah Snyder, 20.
The trial began June 15.
The panel began deliberating the case at 3 p.m. on June 17. Circuit Court Judge David Swanson dismissed the jury for the day at 4:50 p.m. when no verdict was reached.
Jurors sent questions to the judge three times during that nearly two-hour span. They asked for copies of two sets of car-crash reconstruction reports and clarity on yellow light laws.
They also wanted access to enhanced videos that were shown during trial that they themselves could play and rewind.
The judge responded to that request by saying such video usually can only be shown for a limited time by the attorneys in the case and must be played in open court, not behind closed doors.
Deliberations will resume at 9 a.m. on June 18.
In her closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Emily Zimmel replayed footage of the crash and read quotes from Brunner caught on police bodycams, during which she said she shouldn’t have made the turn.
“We know that she has regrets about what she did,” Zimmel said.
Zimmel repeated a witness’ testimony that he saw the crash before it happened and said that even her 5-year-old would instruct a driver not to proceed when safely stopped at a yellow light.
The other driver in the case, Peter McColgan, 22, also was charged in the case, about eight months after Brunner’s arrest.
Zimmel encouraged jurors to separate Brunner’s driving from McColgan’s, asserting that their job was to make a ruling on Brunner and to save McColgan’s case for another jury.
“She chose to drive into the path of that oncoming vehicle. She chose to do that because she’s drunk and she’s high and she doesn’t have the decision-making and motor skills necessary to operate a motor vehicle,” Zimmel said.
Defense attorney Abigail Ruckdashel told jurors Brunner shouldn’t be held responsible for Michaud and Snyder’s deaths.
The blame should be placed on McColgan’s decision to speed that day, she said.
“You don’t expect a car coming at you double the speed limit,” she said. “She [Brunner] was trying to avoid” the collision.
Ruckdashel told the jury to not let their empathy for the victims’ families cloud the facts as they weighed the evidence.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jury peppers judge with questions during deliberation about fatal crash
Reporting by Chris Ramirez and Lance Schulteis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris Ramirez and Lance Schulteis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
