Testimony: Abel Esquivel says he was struck repeatedly and blinded in one eye in May 2023 attack

Jurors in the 187th District Court heard testimony that Abel Esquivel, 48, was struck multiple times with a blunt object on May 8, 2023, outside a home on North San Felipe Avenue and later underwent treatment after which doctors told him he would not regain sight in one eye, the victim testified.

Prosecutors presented scene evidence including body-worn camera footage and still photographs, and a crime-scene investigator testified that she collected a splintered wooden handle from the street that was logged as evidence E1. Officer Jonathan William Rees of the San Antonio Police Department described a blood trail leading from the street to the neighbor's porch where he found Esquivel and said he observed lacerations to the front of the victim's face near the left eye and to the back of the head.

The prosecution told the jury that the victim and the defendant struggled over a bicycle shortly before the attack. "Flip the bike over, and you'll see a weld that shows that this bicycle is mine," a prosecutor said while describing the encounter to the court. Esquivel testified that a man called him by name, grabbed the bicycle and "started saying that it was his bike," then struck him. "It just felt like a metal object," Esquivel testified when asked what he felt while being struck.

Esquivel described crawling to a neighbor's porch covered in blood and being taken by ambulance to University Hospital, where he said he had surgery and was told he would not regain vision in the affected eye. The victim testified he stayed at University Hospital about two days and said he has not been able to pay the medical bills incurred.

The state introduced and the court admitted several items into evidence: the officer's body-worn camera footage (admitted as State's exhibit 1), still photographs from the scene (State's exhibits 2–6), hospital photographs of the victim (State's exhibits 7–9), an identification form and photo shown to Esquivel at the hospital (State's exhibit 10), surveillance video from a neighborhood convenience-store area (State's exhibit 11), and the collected wooden handle labeled as State's exhibit 12. Crime Scene Investigator Jessica Saldivar said the bag carrying the item bore the case number SAPD23100593 and her initials and that she collected the splintered wooden stick from the street.

Esquivel identified the person in a photograph shown at University Hospital as "Jose, a.k.a. Malito," and signed the identification form, the record shows. The surveillance video admitted as State's exhibit 11 shows the defendant arriving at a neighborhood picnic after the assault; Esquivel testified he saw the defendant at that picnic and that the defendant said in Spanish, translated in court, "he was gonna break me."

On cross-examination, the defense questioned Esquivel about drinking that night, his path home from a bar called Los Gallos and whether he had been intoxicated; the defense also focused on disputed ownership of the bicycle and on how long Esquivel had had the Schwinn bicycle (Esquivel testified about two months). The defense pressed the point that Esquivel's phone and bicycle were not recovered and highlighted evidentiary objections at various points; the court overruled those objections when it found foundation sufficient for the exhibits.

Officer Rees testified he was dispatched to 257 North San Felipe Avenue after an "assault in progress" call, located a wooden handle and a blood trail, and recorded the scene with his body-worn camera. He provided the SAPD case number, SAPD23100593, and identified the body-worn footage and photographs as fair and accurate depictions of the scene. Saldivar testified she labeled the collected item as E1 and that it remains in evidence.

The court repeatedly sustained and overruled objections during testimony in accordance with the rules of evidence; for example, the court sustained an objection to hearsay when a question sought to elicit what a treating doctor had said, but allowed Esquivel to describe his experience and the outcome. The courtroom record shows jurors were excused for a short break during the testimony; Judge Stephanie Boyd, presiding in the 187th District Court, recessed the proceedings and instructed jurors not to discuss the case.

No verdict has been reached. The trial was in progress when the transcript ended; the court recessed and scheduled to resume at 1:30 p.m., according to the record.