Owner of stolen truck testifies

A resident of Oconee’s Dairy Farm Road said he went to bed one night last May and awoke the next morning to discover that his fire engine red pickup truck was missing.  This morning’s testimony by Tony Norris was part of the state’s accumulation of witness evidence against defendant Robert Jeffrey Hughes.  This is day two of the trial of Hughes who is charged with six crimes—including possession of a stolen vehicle, unlawful carrying a pistol, and resisting arrest with a deadly weapon.  Norris said his truck, badly damaged by pasture fencing, was replaced by a payment of $18.5 thousand from his insurance company.  Earlier the jury heard Sgt. Barry Owens of the Oconee Sheriff’s Office say that, at the scene of Hughes’ apprehension, he confiscated a knife and an empty gun holster from the defendant’s possession.  Two weeks ago, two and a half months after the arrest, another sheriff’s officer said he found two guns on property adjoining the pasture where Owens pursued the red truck and its driver.  Under cross-examination by the defendant’s attorney, Gordon Senerius, Owens was asked to explain why those two guns were not made part of the case evidence.  One gun was returned to its owner in Oconee County and the other, traced to nearby Anderson County, was turned over to the Anderson Sheriff’s Office.