Brevard Co. deputy murder case defense wants statements tossed

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — One of a pair of murder suspects was in court Friday in Brevard County.

Andria Kerchner and Brandon Bradley are both charged with the murder of Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill.

Kerchner's defense attorney Michael Bross is trying to get some of her statements tossed and just got the approval to hire an expert witness.

That expert witness will evaluate whether drugs played a role in what Kerchner told investigators on the night she was arrested so the court can decide whether her statements should be admissible in court.

Kerchner sat silently in the courtroom Friday.

On the day Pill was shot and killed, Kerchner did plenty of talking in the back of a Sheriff's Office cruiser.

"I literally just got picked up by him. I needed a ride to my dad's," Kerchner said in the back of a cruiser.

She spoke in an interrogation room, and she continued to speak as she was escorted to the jail.

"I didn't shoot the deputy. These cops is liars," Kerchner said at the time.

Bross said she was intoxicated and extraordinarily high on drugs at the time.

According to Bross' motion to suppress, Kerchner already had Ecstasy in her system when her co-defendant, Bradley, told her to swallow a handful of Xanax, presumably to avoid detection by law enforcement.

Kerchner was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Bradley. When the vehicle crashed into a ditch, Kerchner ended up in the hospital, where Bross said she was administered more medication.

He said she was still interrogated.

Friday, the court approved an expert witness Bross plans to call during a suppression hearing.

"They should not be allowed to allow these statements to come in to assist them in any way," Bross said.

The suppression hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23.

WFTV