Marcello Fracassi's friend testified Monday that he feels guilt "for contributing" because he gave Fracassi the keys to drive the night a City of Alliston road worker was struck and killed.
Now on trial, Fracassi, 33, claims he was "sleep driving" and has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges including impaired driving causing death and leaving the scene of a crash.
City road worker Geoff Gaston, 41, was hit while painting lines overnight in downtown Alliston on June 20, 2014.
Gaston's co-worker was also hit and suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Testifying as a defence witness, Brian Lafazanos told court he feels "guilt for the whole scenario" but wouldn't have done anything differently when he allowed Fracassi to drive home after a night out with his buddies.
"I thought he was was okay to drive," Lafazanos testified.
The Alliston realtor said he reacted with "shock, disbelief" when he learned the next morning that the friend he had known since elementary school had been arrested.
"How do these accidents happen?" he testified was his thought at the time.
Lafazanos told court he refused numerous police requests for an interview for nine months after the collision because he feared he might be charged for smoking pot that night.
"I wasn't prepared. I was nervous. Inexperienced....I even consulted a lawyer....just to get some advice."
Defence lawyer Jim Flemming asked advice 'about what?'
"The whole scenario," replied the witness.
Court heard when Lafazanos met with police for an interview under oath in March 2015 he didn't mention that he'd smoked marijuana and drank Jagermeister in addition to having beers.
"I wasn't asked," he said.
Fleming said police accused the friends of getting together to make up a story or "get their stories straight."
Lafazanos denied the allegation but testified about discussing the events of that evening with Fracassi.
"He said he didn't remember very much," said the witness.
Lafazanos testified that Fracassi told him about some health issues relating to "his heart, his breathing and his sleep."
"He had some unknown condition that was being investigated," Lafazanos said, adding the accused had a heart monitoring device.
"I knew about a couple of episodes he'd had. He had something unknown happen to him. It was concerning."
The trial continues.
