TAMPA – The trial for a man accused of plowing his semi-truck into a group of people outside a Tampa strip club wrapped up on Wednesday.
Dylan Fogle is facing a number of charges, including murder and attempted murder. Giovanni Soto was killed in the crash and two others were hurt.
Closing statements in the trial wrapped up late Wednesday afternoon and the jury was sent to deliberate.
The backstory:
Fogle and his friend, who he worked at a trucking company with, visited Emperors Gentlemen’s Club on Aug. 14, 2024. An employee, who also worked security at times, testified that Fogle was interacting inappropriately with one of the dancers and was kicked out.
The employee said the dancer alerted him about the interaction and Fogle was kicked out.
“I put my arm behind him and tried to like, usher him out, and then he turned, and when he turned, I picked him up and I kind of carried him out under his arms like you would carry a toddler,” Joshua Sanders, the club’s VIP host, said.
During opening statements on Tuesday morning, the prosecutor said Fogle eventually left the club on foot. She said he was gone for about an hour and returned with his semi-truck.
“He made more than 53 phone calls between the time that he leaves the club and the time this event occurs, blowing people up, sending text messages,” Christina Berkowicz, a prosecutor with the 13th Judicial Circuit said. “The evidence is going to show that he had the intent to do what he did.”
The state showed text messages that Fogle sent before the crash. One of the text messages read, “Goodbye, I’m going to prison for vehicular manslaughter.”Â
During the trial, the state also showed surveillance from outside the club of Fogle’s friend getting thrown out of the club by a group of men. Seconds later, the footage shows Fogle’s truck slam into the group, killing one man and hurting two employees.
“As soon as he saw human beings, he came and drove that truck, that weapon of his choice, towards them,” Berkowicz said.
The defense began its opening statement with dramatic video of Fogle being treated by paramedics after the crash. He could be heard wailing and yelling, following the crash.
His public defender said Fogle was in a state of hysteria, and was saying things like, he “was under attack,” and talking about “four or five men.”
“This is not pre-meditated murder,” Maria Dunker, Fogle’s public defender, said. “The evidence in this case is going to show that at the time that Dylan Fogle drove his truck through the parking lot and crashed into the side of the Emperor’s Gentlemen’s Club, he had just one goal in mind. To help his friend.”
The defense also said Fogle didn’t fight back when he was being kicked out of the club.
“He doesn’t fight the person that’s kicking him out of the club,” Dunker said. “He doesn’t throw any punches. You’re not going to hear any evidence that he was attacking anyone. He was stating his case. He was arguing, ‘Hey, let me stay.'”
Closing statements
During closing statements on Wednesday afternoon, the state focused on the text messages Fogle sent and the calls he made shortly before the crash.
“He tells you in those messages what he was going to do,” Berkowicz said.
The prosecution said Fogle made a conscious decision that he was going to kill someone.
“He had over an hour to reflect on this. He could’ve easily got into the truck after sending that text message and saying, ‘You know what, I was just blowing off steam. I shouldn’t have done that’,” Berkowicz said. “But instead, he went and sat and waited. He waited for over 10 minutes, just to see people.”
The prosecutor also said Fogle made the decision to go get his truck and come back to the club.
“In defense’s opening, they showed you a video clip of the defendant crying, saying that was his state of mind at the time. No ladies and gentlemen. that was him after he had been beat up severely. That was him after he realized there was no way out after he was caught. After he had about 45 minutes to formulate, what was his next story.”
The other side:
During the defense’s closing statement, Fogle’s attorney said the texts he sent are not evidence of an intent to kill. She continued to focus on Fogle’s state of mind at this time.
“So, when you’re looking at those text messages, and you’re looking at the phone call, after phone call, after phone call, ask yourself, what’s going through Mr. Fogle’s mind at the time?” Dunker said. “Does he want to kill someone? Does he mean what he’s saying? Is he making any sense at all, or are we trying to make sense of a drunk, senseless man.”
The defense said there was no pre-meditation or conscious intent to kill someone.
The defense also acknowledged that Fogle’s friend may not have been in danger when he was getting kicked out, but Fogle sees his friend get shoved to the ground outside the club by multiple men, and he was worried about him at that point.
“Was his intent to get down there and crush all of those people and kill them?” Dunker said. “Was his intent to get down and maybe scare the other guys away from his friend? Was the intent to get down there so that Mr. Fogle himself could jump in and help?
Fogle’s attorney also noted that the truck’s brake lights came on at one point.
“If there is pre-meditated design to kill, a conscious intent to kill, why is Mr. Fogle braking?” Dunker said. “Why is he braking?”
The jury began deliberating around 4:15 p.m.
CLICK HERE:>>> Follow FOX 13 on YouTube
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Kylie Jones.