Most Important Takeaways from the Trey Wooten Indictment

We're going to present the most important takeaway points from the Trey Wooten indictment. If there is one you should remember, this is it:

The indictment issued by the Lauderdale Grand Jury this week concerned only who was at fault in the collision. It did NOT concern the guilt or innocence of the operator of the cabin cruiser who may or may not be guilty of leaving the scene of a boating accident. 

If we've learned one thing writing this blog, it's that many, many people don't read with comprehension and they listen to rumors. Gentle readers, Mark McBryer's time will come next month. This month, the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office concentrated on Trey Wooten, whom investigators deemed responsible for the accident and the resulting deaths of two individuals.



Now, let's look at some other takeaways that many seem to be missing:

1. Wooten was 150% drunk (over .12 BAC). That's a lot of booze, folks.

2. All lights on the cabin cruiser were working; the major rear light on Wooten's vessel wasn't even connected.

3. Sgt. Chad Dyer was the primary Marine Police investigator; his investigation was overseen by Lt. Chad Pate. All evidence given to DA Chris Connolly came from this report. In other words, if anyone was bribed, both officers received hush money for the plan to work.

4. Dyar did not seek to breathalyze the driver of the cabin cruiser, Mark McBryer. (We do find this odd, but it's not our call.) At NO time did McBryer refuse the test.

5. McBryer's party was four family members and one employee/friend for a total of five on the cruiser. Three men and two women made up the number.

6. Dyer states that they were all present when he arrived and that they waited until he did his preliminaries, shipped Wooten off for medical treatment, and stowed away the bodies to await transport. 

7. No one on either vessel was actually outside a craft and in the water at any time. In other words, the crash did not send anyone flying into the lake.

8. GPS on each craft approximated the speed of the vessels. These are very accurate calculations, and found that Wooten was traveling at between 20 and 25 mph, while the cruiser was doing 6 mph. This was at night when visibility was extremely limited.

9. As this blog has published before, Connolly stated that McBryer would not be responsible for leaving the scene of an accident if he felt his vessel was in danger of sinking. His first duty was to his passengers in 60 feet of water.

10. Lauderdale 911 records show calls from McBryer's party coming into dispatch immediately after the crash as the cruiser picked up speed to return to the marina. 


Looking at these facts, it makes the indictment of Wooten a given. It makes a future indictment of McBryer a distinct possibility, but it should be interesting to see what the remainder of the evidence in the case is. Remember, this week's indictment concerned only who caused the crash, not anything that happened subsequently. Let justice prevail for Lauren and Blakely. 

The Two Chads: Dyer & Pate