The man charged with the crash resulting in the death of Tahakopa man Jack Victor Hugh Stephens appeared before the Invercargill High Court for the first time today.
The 20-year-old defendant stood in the dock and was supported in court by his family on one side, while Mr Stephens’ supporters appeared on the other.
Defence counsel Kate McHugh said she there were ongoing issues she needed to explore until she decided to argue permanent name suppression for her client.
Justice Cameron Mander granted interim name suppression to continue until his next appearance, on August 29.
Ms McHugh said she would be "happy" to indicate then where they were in terms of plea.
Along with manslaughter, the defendant is also facing a charge of drink-driving causing death and drink-driving causing injury.
A police statement said previously that they attended the fatal crash on the Niagara-Tokanui highway at about 8.35pm on February 15.
They said a ute had rolled between McManus Road and Quarry Hills Fortification Road, and despite best efforts by emergency services, Mr Stephens died at the scene.
Two other occupants of the ute received serious to critical injuries, police said.
At the start of July, a relative of Mr Stephens told the Otago Daily Times the family were "just pleased" a prosecution was going ahead over the fatal crash.
Four and a-half months on from the crash, police said a 20-year-old man had been charged with manslaughter in relation to the accident.
At the time, the relative said the family were still pretty upset and declined to comment further, saying they would wait and see what happened at the trial.
"It’s still too fresh," the family member said.
