(WBIR-Knoxville) A high-profile Knoxville attorney was killed in a car crash Tuesday afternoon.
The Knox County Sheriff's Office said Bruce Poston, 66, died when his 2006 Mercedes SLK 280 struck a tree on Northshore Drive near Sandpiper Lane at approximately 12:34 pm.
Officers said Poston was not wearing a seat belt and that speed was a factor in the crash. They said that the car caught fire after hitting the tree, and several bystanders attempted to rescue Poston. They used a fire extinguisher in an attempt to put out the blaze, and two people pulled the man from the burning car.
When paramedics arrived, they pronounced Poston dead.
No other vehicles were involved.
According to the Poston Law Firm website, Poston was a criminal defense attorney with over 150 jury trials on his resume. He has represented defendants in several high profile cases that garnered national news coverage.
"He was an absolute fearless lawyer," said Dennis Francis, a Knoxville attorney and friend of Poston. "One thing you knew for sure was if Bruce was your lawyer, the government needed to bring their best A game because Bruce didn't back up for anybody."
Poston's high-profile clients included Eric McLean. Poston convinced a jury in September 2007 that McLean killed his wife's teenage lover accidentally, despite his confession. McLean received a 90 day sentence and 12 years probation.
In October of 2007, he represented Knoxville mall shooter William Johnson. Johnson is serving a life in prison sentence for killing a store clerk after a dispute over a purchase, then holding a customer captive and getting in a gun fight with police.
That same year he was assigned to represent Letalvis Cobbins, one of the four defendants charged in the Channon Christian and Chris Newsom case. Judge Baumgartner later removed him from the case and accused him of contempt.
Knoxville Attorney Russ Greene started practicing law at the same time as Poston. They tried several cases together, including the Christian and Newsom case.
"He was more alive and enjoyed himself more in a courtroom, in front of a jury, than anybody I've ever seen. It was just life for him," Greene said.
Greene recalled Poston saying as criminal defense lawyers, they were like the fighter pilots of the law. "That's like the way he liked to go at a case. He aggressively attacked it as if he was a fighter pilot," Greene said.
Poston also served as Campbell County High School shooter Kenneth Bartley's attorney at one time.
Francis said Poston took the cases "nobody else wanted."
"In the year 2014 and moving forward, less and less lawsuits get tried. Everything is mediated, or arbitrated, or worked out and Bruce was one of the few people still left that would just say, 'Let's go out and put 12 citizens in the box and let you prove it,'" Francis said.
Poston was set to stand trial next week on drug delivery charges. Investigators said he illegally delivered hydrocodone to an unnamed person on three separate occasions.
On the day of the crash, Poston was scheduled to represent clients in court.
