DUI crash kills mom of 5

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Nearly a year ago, five children lost their mother after investigators say Brian Defreitas was driving drunk and drove her off the road.

Mary Olivas was ejected from her truck and died. Her two young children were in the car with her and survived, but were seriously injured.

Now, Defreitas is back in court, fighting to get key evidence against him thrown out. His lawyers say some of the evidence was collected illegally, including a blood sample they got from Defrietas without a warrant.

In court, an officer explained why he felt there was no other option, saying as time passed, the chance of getting an accurate blood sample decreased quickly.

The defense disagreed, saying officers had other, faster options available to them, like emailing or meeting with a judge, or even having a judge drive to the crime scene to sign a warrant.

Hillsborough Judge Gregory Holder said he saw a big problem with that logic. He said, if a judge or magistrate came to the scene and saw what happened in the crash, that person may not have been able to make a neutral, detached decision about a warrant.

The defense also brought up e-Warrants. It's a new pilot program in Hillsborough County that allows an on-call judge to sign a warrant electronically, from a secure site. The only issue is the program was launched last week, so it was not available at the time.

After hours of testimony, the judge seemed to have had enough.

"This is a rehash. I allowed a brief re-cross. three more questions. and you are absolutely done with this witness," Judge Holder said firmly.

The hearing wrapped up, but will continue in the next few weeks. A ruling is expected weeks after that.

Olivas' family says hearing the details of the crash was absolutely heart wrenching. They are hopeful the judge will keep the evidence in the case for a jury to see.