• Leslie Wilber •
• Originally published January 22, 2009 at 12:32 a.m., updated January 22, 2009 at 12:32 a.m.

A man on trial for intoxicated manslaughter cracked open three beers while driving through Victoria and finished two, he said in court Wednesday.

Bryan K. Brown, 41, of Morrow, La. is charged with causing a wreck that killed Vanessa Jasso, 24, and Rudy Flores, 52. The wreck also severely injured Jasso's 6-year-old son, Jacob Amezquita. Jasso, Flores and Jacob all lived in Victoria.

Brown was in Port O'Connor working on an offshore oil platform around the time of the June 7, 2007 wreck, he said. His co-worker Larry Temple asked Brown to drive him to a shop to get his cell phone fixed. Fellow worker Dan Brown, who is not related to the defendant, accompanied them.

Brown had never been to Victoria before the wreck, he said. He was unsure of the speed limit on Delmar Drive, where the crash happened. The men were headed back to Port O'Connor when the wreck occurred.

"I looked as far as I could down the road , looking for any lights," Brown said. "It gave me the impression it was a main throughway."

The instant before the wreck, Brown said he was trying to rouse Temple to ask him to put on his seatbelt. Dan Brown tapped Bryan Brown to warn him about the truck, driven by Jasso, that was crossing the intersection of Lone Tree Road, the defendant said.

"I didn't realize there was a stop sign until after the wreck," Brown said. After his truck stopped, Brown looked back and noticed the four-way stop signs. He then ran to the other truck, where he found Jasso, Flores and Jacob.

All three men had been drinking that afternoon, Brown said. Dan Brown and Larry Temple went inside a Valero store to ask directions when they got to Victoria, the defendant said. While they were inside, Brown said, he helped a woman fill her tires at the air pump.

The passengers returned with a 24-pack of Budweiser and Doritos, Brown said.

When Dan Brown testified, he said the defendant and Temple bought beer at a convenience store later in the day.

Bryan Brown sipped his first beer while waiting for Temple to leave the phone store, he said. He could not recall when he started to drink his second or third beer, he said.

Before heading back to Port O'Connor, Brown stopped at Goodwill to buy a pair of shorts, he said. He left a partially full beer in the car.

"When I got back out, I took a sip of it and it had already started to get hot," he said. He threw it into a small cooler by his feet, Brown said, where he had put his two other empty cans.

The three crushed cans pictured in a police photograph of the cooler jibe with Brown's count. But Brown's testimony didn't explain the empty beer can near his feet, prosecutor Eli Garza pointed out.

Brown said he did not know how the can got there.

Garza also questioned why the water in the cooler appeared to be clear if Brown had thrown a half-empty can of beer into it.

"Does that water look yellow to you sir?" Garza asked.

"Not very much," Brown said.

Garza asked Brown if he often drank beer while driving.

"No, I don't do much drinking," Brown said.

"I mean, you wouldn't have a couple of beers in your truck with your family inside?" Garza said. Brown is married and the couple has two sons.

"No, sir," Brown said.

All three men lost their contracts at the offshore platform because of the wreck, Brown said. Brown was not sure of the official reason given for his termination.

"When you all were driving around here in Victoria, was that company time?" Garza said.

"Yes, sir," Brown said.

"Are you allowed to drink on company time?"

"No, sir."

During the trial, prosecutors have appeared frustrated by the Victoria Police Department's handing of evidence. Brown's blood sample sat at the Victoria Police Department for three months before it was sent for analysis.

Garza also questioned why beer cans weren't collected as evidence and more pictures weren't taken of the scene.

• What's next:

  The reading of the charges and closing arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday in District Judge Robert Cheshire's courtroom. The jury will deliberate after the arguments.

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