State presents video and vehicle data; medical examiner rules manner 'accident' as defense seeks directed verdict in manslaughter case

A prosecutor played bar surveillance video and vehicle telematics evidence as the state pressed its manslaughter case in a trial over an October 2023 crash that later killed Jose Luis Fernandez.

Detective Brad Armstrong testified the video the state marked as State Exhibit 2 came from a bar and, after refreshing his memory with an ACM data feed, said "based off the ACM collection data, it shows that the vehicle maintained the engine throttle speed" until about one second before the collision and that the service brake was applied roughly a half second later. Armstrong told jurors he later presented the case to prosecutors and that the combination of observed speeding plus a traffic-signal violation led to a manslaughter filing.

The defense, represented by Marissa Jevango, repeatedly objected to speculative testimony about vehicle speeds from the video and pressed Armstrong on investigative practice. Armstrong acknowledged he had not performed formal crash-reconstruction equations in this case because the file lacked necessary parameters; he said he supplemented an officer's crash report to note Fernandez's death but did not rewrite the original report, and that he had not requested or received forensic toxicology results from the hospital.

The state called James Andrew Wilkerson IV of the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office to explain cause and manner of death. Wilkerson testified he reviewed hospital and medical records but did not perform a full autopsy because injuries were already well documented. He told jurors the medical examiner's office recorded blunt-force injuries to the head as the cause of death and that the manner of death was classified as "accident." "We found an accident," Wilkerson said on the stand.

Wilkerson also explained the laboratory distinctions to the jury: hospitals commonly run serum screening tests and urine drug screens for clinical care, but confirmatory forensic toxicology (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) is performed in the medical examiner's laboratory. He testified the hospital had completed screening but had not sent specimens for confirmatory whole-blood forensic testing, so the office could not report a legal whole-blood blood-alcohol concentration for Fernandez.

The state later called Selena Morales, who testified she was with Fernandez the night of the crash and described waking to find airbags deployed and her partner slumped over. Morales said Fernandez had a history of alcohol and marijuana use and that at the scene she yelled that the other driver had run a red light.

After the state rested, defense counsel moved for a directed verdict, arguing the evidence was insufficient to prove that the defendant drove "at a speed that was not reasonable or prudent under the circumstances" and that the state had not proven the recklessness mens rea required for manslaughter. The state countered that the video, ACM data, and the defendant's post-crash statements were enough for a reasonable juror to find the elements beyond a reasonable doubt and cited appellate precedent where speed plus running a red light supported a manslaughter conviction.

The judge took the defense motion under advisement and told counsel he would rule tomorrow; jurors were released and scheduled to return at 10 a.m. the next day. The trial record shows the prosecution relies on the surveillance video and ACM telematics for speed and signal evidence while the defense emphasizes investigative limits (no confirmatory toxicology sent, no autopsy, no formal speed calculations) and challenges whether the state's evidence supports a finding of conscious disregard of a serious risk.

The case docket and testimony on the record: Detective Brad Armstrong (state witness) described vehicle-data timestamps and video evidence; James Andrew Wilkerson IV (Bexar County Medical Examiner) testified cause of death was blunt-force head injuries and manner "accident;" Selena Morales testified as an eyewitness. The court deferred a ruling on the defense's directed-verdict motion until the next session.