Defense plans expert review of deadly 2006 Taylor crash

PORTLAND, Ind. – A judge approved money for an expert to aid the defense of a truck driver accused of falling asleep at the wheel and causing a collision that killed four Taylor University students and a university employee.\nTrucker Robert F. Spencer’s attorney will have $4,350 to hire a crash analyst to study the circumstances surrounding the April 2006 collision, which happened when Spencer’s semitrailer crossed the Interstate 69 median and struck a university van.\nDefense attorney Joe Keith Lewis argued during a hearing Friday in Jay Circuit Court that the review was necessary.\n“We need to reinvestigate this accident,” Lewis said. “The investigation is key to good criminal defense.”\nSpencer, of Canton Township, Mich., near Detroit, was charged in September with five counts of reckless homicide and four counts of criminal recklessness. Authorities say he had driven at least nine hours more than allowed under federal rules and had fallen asleep behind the wheel.