Daniel Martin Munoz II played with a cross hanging from his neck as 391st District Judge Tom Gossett read the jury their instructions Monday afternoon, tugging lengthwise at the slim piece of metal held firmly between his thumb and forefinger and alternating hands when he reached the bottom, his head bowed in silence.
The 27-year-old is on trial for intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony he admits he committed on Dec. 31, 2012, when he piloted his black sports car down S. Chadbourne St. within an hour of midnight, hit a light pole and plummeted down an embankment near the concrete apron of the Red Arroyo bridge. Munoz’s passenger, 21-year-old serviceman Brandon Jackson, did not survive.
Providing an outline for the state’s case against the defendant, prosecuting attorney Richard Villareal focused on the crash and the subsequent procedures of emergency personnel and investigators thereafter in his opening statements, listing off a series of witnesses to include police officers and a medical examiner.
His opponent, counsel for the defense Theodore “Tip” Hargrove, began by setting the stage.
“It’s two and a half years ago on New Year’s Eve and two friends are out together…they’re going to celebrate…just like thousands and thousands of people do…then tragedy strikes,” defense attorney Theodore “Tip” Hargrove addressed the jury on his turn. “Now it’s two and a half years later. What now, what now?”
Hargrove then reiterated points made during jury selection, tightening his focus on how Munoz has reacted to the crash over the 30+ months since it happened. He dropped words and phrases like, “remorse”, “sobriety” and “behavior since then” before calling upon the jury to determine whether it’s real or fake.
“The circumstances after Dec. 31, 2012 really do matter, because if they did not matter, we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “The legislature would have set a specific punishment, but they did not.”
Daniel Munoz knew he was facing two to 20 years as a possible sentence when he stood in the courtroom on Monday, shaking slightly as he drew a breath and entered a plea of “guilty” at just after 2:50 p.m.
Because of his guilty plea, the trial will be halved and the jury will only hear evidence meant to provide them with guidance for assessing an appropriate sentence. Munoz’s guilt or innocence is not on trial.
In the roughly two hours before the 5 o’clock recess, Villareal called upon four witnesses, presenting pictures to the jury of the victim in the ER, the car and debris field, as well as a video from the patrol car of SAPD Sergeant Timothy Coffman.
According to his testimony, Sgt. Coffman was working a special assignment on Dec. 31, 2012 as a DWI enforcement officer. He had driven down S. Chadbourne St. roughly an hour before midnight and nothing had been out of the ordinary. Just before the clock struck 12, Coffman turned back down that street, where he found evidence of a recent crash.
“As I was traveling southbound on S. Chadbourne, shortly after passing the intersection of Ave. R and S. Chadbourne, I came across a large piece of debris in the roadway,” Coffman said. “…after removing the debris…[I determined] that there had been a fiberglass light pole that had been sheered off…”
Coffman continued to tell the jury that after noticing the shattered light pole, he began to think back and consider that he hadn’t heard any calls come through regarding a motor vehicle accident in the area. He then ran back to his car and retrieved his flashlight, he said, running back out to look for a debris field that would indicate a crash had occurred.
Focusing his beam on a broad field of debris that continued down the grade, his flashlight caught the reflective taillight of a vehicle buried behind a wall of brush. Sgt. Coffman called for assistance.
The vehicle, which photographs showed to have been smashed down to a fraction of its original size and battered on all surfaces, was upright at the bottom of the embankment and Munoz was trapped in the driver’s side unconscious, while Jenkins was partially outside the vehicle on the passenger side. Both had sustained major injuries in the crash.
A litter of car parts, bits of the light pole and battered Bud Light cans lay strewn from the road to where the vehicle lie, the beer “full and cold to the touch,” as officer Caroline Jackson described them. The night had been cold as well, she testified.
Once at the hospital, Jackson and Munoz began to receive emergency treatment for their injuries and a crime scene technician showed up to photograph their injuries before heading to the scene of the crash.
Bexar County Medical Examiner Dr. James Augustine Feig conducted the autopsy on Jackson’s body and was called to the stand on Monday to relay his findings to the jury.
“Cause of death was…blunt force injuries to the head and neck,” Feig said.
Feig testified that Jackson had sustained several abrasions, lesions and bruises during the crash, including hemorrhaging in the scalp. He related that Jackson had bleeding on the surface of the brain and deep within it, which ultimately led to his death. Feig also stated that his toxicology tests returned that Jackson had no drugs and no alcohol in his system when the test was performed on Jan. 2. He also stated that the records he received from Shannon Medical Center returned that Jackson had not taken any drugs, although he hadn’t received a report regarding alcohol use.
Munoz ducked his head as pictures of Jackson’s body in the ER were flashed on the screen, daring only one brief look up before turning his head back down and wiping at his eyes as the shots focused in on Jackson’s injuries.
In response, Hargrove passed a few photographs of Munoz around through the jury box, asking the crime scene technician who had taken the photos if that was how his client had looked when the blood draw was taken. Munoz’s face, partially caked with dried blood, was swollen and bruised.
After hearing from a few of the officers that responded that night, plus the medical examiner and the crime scene technician, Judge Tom Gossett called for a recess until Tuesday morning. Beginning at 9 a.m., the state is expected to call additional witnesses on Tuesday, including SAPD traffic investigators and reconstructionists, who will provide an idea of the mechanics of the crash.
The trial is anticipated to last one to two days.
Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily
Required
Post a comment to this article here: