Dunn Wrongful Death Jury Trial Continues with Witness Testimony

SAN ANGELO – As San Angelo LIVE! has reported all week, Clayton Wayne Dunn, 52, is on trial in San Angelo for the crime of accident involving death. The death occurred when Dunn allegedly hit 33-year-old Jacob Martinez while on his bicycle on Thanksgiving Eve 2018.

On Aug. 17, the jury came to the verdict of guilty. Dunn was then arrested and placed into the jailed  Wednesday night.  The trial continued Thursday.

Prior to the trial beginning Dunn elected to have his punishment decided by the jury. This meant that day four of the trial would include the punishment phase. It began with Tom Green County Sheriff's deputies bringing in Dunn. All week Dunn had been dressed in slacks and nice collared shirts. Thursday, he was dressed in the yellow jail jumpsuit assigned to some inmates at the Tom Green County Detention Facility.

Prosecutors used witness testimony showing the jury what Dunn had done in the six months after the crash. The bond he managed to make was $50,000 allowing him back out on the street.

Following his release he was arrested another three times. This first was on Oct. 10, 2020. On this date he was arrested for "Duty on Striking Fixture/Highway Landscape that causes less than $200 worth of damage." The Tom Green County Sheriff's Deputies that arrested him took the stand this morning and told the jury about how Dunn allegedly hit a stop sign. For this he was arrested and released the same day. His bond was set at $500.

According to testimony, his most recent arrest occurred on Sep. 13, 2022. The court did not discuss much of the arrest but booking reports indicate that it was for possession of a controlled substance penalty group three. Penalty group is mainly for drugs like Ketamine, Codeine, Vicodin, Lortab, and Lorcet. This is an important part to remember.

The second arrest was the arrest was the charge that the court mainly wanted to discuss. On Nov. 27, 2020, the day after Thanksgiving, Dunn was arrested for driving while intoxicated. A witness and the woman who called the police on Dunn that day took the stand against Dunn.

She said she approached a truck that was parked in the middle of the intersection of Howard and Dallas St. Dunn was asleep behind the wheel. She did not remember the exact time but did say that the sun was out. 

Dunn eventually woke up and sped off. She following Dunn as he ran countless red lights. Dunn eventually ended up with three flat tires and one the tire was completely off of the wheel in the Shannon clinic parking lot near 26th and N. Bryant. The same officer that found Dunn in 2018, Officer Ratcliff, was the officer who made the arrest that day.

He also took the stand and told the jury how Dunn had failed all of the field sobriety tests, continuously fell asleep on the way to the jail, and then once at the jail continuously forgot where he was. At one point the officer claims that Dunn told jail staff that he weighed 582 pounds.

He was then given a breathalyzer but the results came back as 0. Dunn refused to give a blood sample but the San Angelo Police Department's Drug Recognition Expert claimed that he showed signs of being intoxicated with a depressant like drug.

The last witness the state brought forward was the victim's mother. She told the jury how she and her familie's lives will never be the same. The heart breaking testimony had many in the gallery and even some in the jury emotional. The state rested following the mother's testimony. 

The jury is expected to finish the punishment phase later this afternoon. Dunn is facing two to 20 years in prison.