MAYVILLE – One of the state troopers who was at the scene when Emmaline Wilcox died in an automobile accident early last year was grilled for several hours by attorneys.

State Trooper Brendan Murphy was first sworn in Wednesday afternoon but Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt had not finished questioning him that day, so he returned in the morning.

Murphy recounted how Nicholas Mineweaser, who has been charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while ability impaired by drugs, was read Driving While Intoxicated warnings and later his Miranda Rights on Feb. 24, 2020.

Unlike Miranda Rights, which allows an individual to not speak without an assumption of guilt, the DWI warnings note that a refusal to submit to a chemical test will result in the immediate suspension and subsequent revocation of a driver’s license.

He said Mineweaser was cooperative until he made a phone call to a lawyer at which time he said he would no longer speak to law enforcement. Before then he did take a breathalyzer test, which is used to detect alcohol. That test apparently was negative.

On Wednesday, Judge Paul Wojtaszek did not allow a bag seized from Mineweaser’s possession from the day of the crash to be permitted into evidence, but he did let Schmidt make further arguments, which Schmidt did Thursday morning. After hearing more arguments, Wojtaszek permitted the bag to be used.

The bag was in an outer sealed plastic bag with Murphy’s initials on the tape marks. In front of those present in the court, Murphy cut open the outer plastic bag, removed the inner bag and smelled it. He said it still smelled like marijuana.

Murphy said in court that he saw a marijuana cigarette inside Mineweaser’s vehicle. That item was placed into evidence and later sent to a lab for testing. During testing the marijuana cigarette was taken apart.

During cross-examination, Mineweaser’s attorney Michael Dwan criticized Murphy because no officer photographed the marijuana cigarette inside Mineweaser’s vehicle. He further asked if it was the same item that was inside an evidence bag Thursday. “What we have here is unrecognizable,” he said, referring to the now-destroyed marijuana cigarette. Schmidt called Dwan’s comments a “red herring” and argued that it wasn’t tested until this year, so the defense had plenty of time to examine it before it had to be taken apart for testing.

Also during Dwan’s cross-examination of Murphy, he called into question Murphy’s ability to be unbiased. He noted that years ago the state trooper had been arrested for aggravated driving while intoxicated following an automobile accident and later asked him if he ever used marijuana before, which Murphy said he did before he was a state trooper.

Murphy called the incidents in his past “embarrassing” but said they do not impact his ability to enforce New York laws today.

Dwan further questioned the officer’s testimony about him being able to smell freshly burned marijuana from Mineweaser’s vehicle.

Dwan noted that in Mineweaser’s vehicle were loads of laundry and asked if the smell could have been from those clothes. Murphy said he can tell the difference between freshly burned marijuana and stale marijuana, although he admits he has not been “scientifically trained.”

Changing topics, Dwan asked Murphy if it is legal for vehicles to pass on the right. Murphy said it is not, although it has been “normalized for people to pass on the right on Route 60.” He asked Murphy that if more than one vehicle passed Wilcox, could that create a dangerous situation for Mineweaser, who is believed to have been the third or fourth vehicle behind Wilcox.

Murphy insisted it wouldn’t, even though Dwan tried to insinuate it would. “Did you go to high school?” Dwan quipped before Schmidt objected and then the question was withdrawn.

The trooper took the stand Wednesday afternoon, returned Thursday at 10:30 a.m. and the questioning continued until 3 p.m., minus a lunch break. Afterward, Dwan thanked Murphy for his service and his willingness to answer the questions.

After Murphy, Mineweaser’s ex-girlfriend Nina Spencer was placed in the witness stand. She shared that she was only there because she had been subpoenaed.

Spencer noted she and Mineweaser regularly smoked marijuana together after they had started dating. On Feb. 24, 2020, she said the two of them smoked blunts that morning while in Erie, Pa. She said Mineweaser unwrapped Backwoods cigars and replaced the tobacco with marijuana.

After he left, Spencer said she provided Mineweaser a bag of marijuana to replace what they used earlier that day.

Later in that afternoon, Spencer said Mineweaser contacted her and was “hysterical” saying he had been involved in an accident. “I asked him if he still had the weed on him and he said he ditched it in a puddle of a parking lot,” she testified under oath.

Schmidt gave Spencer the bag that was entered into evidence earlier that day. She said it looked like the same bag. He had her smell it, which she didn’t want to do. After she did, she said it stunk like “roaches” and when asked to define that, she said a roach is the remains of a blunt after it has been smoked.

During the cross examination, Dwan asked Spencer if she has any animosity toward Mineweaser, since the two broke up in May of this year. She said she didn’t, although she did admit that she sent a text to a family member of Shanna Wilcox saying “I hope he gets 7 (years in prison), but even that is not enough.”

Dwan asked Spencer if the two of them ever smoked marijuana in his vehicle. She said they have many times, but said any odor would have left because they would roll the windows down afterward. “Two to three hours, that smell is gone,” she said.

Spencer said she believes Mineweaser feels guilty about the accident and apparently wanted to donate to the family through a Gofundme account that was set up, but didn’t on the advice of legal counsel.

The trial is scheduled to resume today at 10 a.m. in Mayville.

Mineweaser is accused of driving under the influence of drugs, hitting Wilcox’s vehicle while it was turning left on Route 60, causing it to be hit by a tractor trailer. The accident claimed the life of Emmaline who was 7 years old.