Blount trial begins: Defense says Houser didn’t know he hit victim

Ryan Gish remembers the morning of April 13 too well. He remembers holding his friend Connie Blount’s hand as they started to cross the street; he remembers her letting go of his hand to kneel down. Gish remembers turning back to see his friend stopped in the middle of South Broadway and remembers yelling out to her to come on.

“I remember saying, ‘Come on Connie,’” Gish said as he sat on the witness stand as a prosecution witness on Wednesday morning. “I remember seeing the headlights of the car coming, stepping out into the street with my arms outstretched and yelling out to her again, ‘Come on, come on, Connie.”

Gish remembers seeing his friend get hit by a truck — a truck which he says came to a screeching halt after it fishtailed and hit the curb, paused a few seconds then took off again, the driver never stopping to see what he had hit.

The trial of Shannon Houser, the man charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of UK freshman Blount, began Tuesday morning in Fayette County Circuit Court with opening statements and witnesses called by the prosecution.

Houser, 37, pleaded not guilty to charges of leaving the scene of an accident, tampering with physical evidence and marijuana possession — all in connection with Blount’s death.

Murder was not among those charges, Houser’s defense attorney Edward Dove said in his opening statement.

Houser didn’t see Blount in the road because she was wearing dark clothes, it was raining and the street was poorly lit, Dove said. Instead, Houser was focused on Gish, who had moved into the street to get his friend and was waving his arms.

Watching Gish “flailing” is a person’s “natural reaction,” Dove said.

Houser heard a thump but looked in his rear view mirror and saw nothing, Dove said, so he did not stop and he proceeded to the garage he owns on Rudy Street.

According to Lexington police officer Scott Lynch, coordinator of the collision reconstruction unit who investigated the hit-and-run, the silver truck impounded at Houser’s house had strands of hair on its undercarriage and blood near the back tire matching Blount’s DNA.

Lynch also testified pieces were found in the intersection which matched pieces of the truck’s grill, which police found in Houser’s garage, removed from the truck.

Prosecutors said Houser removed the truck’s bumper and grill in an attempt to hide evidence. But Dove didn’t agree. He said Houser would have washed the truck, trying to clean off any evidence, if he had been trying to conceal an accident.

“I’m not going to stand up here and try to deny that a terrible accident happened,” Dove said to the jury in his opening statement. “A life was taken and it was an awful occurrence. But Shannon Houser is not guilty of these charges.”

Blount, a UK freshman and member of the equestrian team was an energetic, athletic and outgoing girl, her father Jack Blount testified. She was studying equine sciences at UK.

“I was her best friend,” Jack Blount said.

The trial is expected to end Thursday.