JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas — The trial of Tonya Bowman, an Humble woman who was charged with intoxicated manslaughter back in 2020, began Tuesday afternoon.
Bowman was arrested for intoxicated manslaughter after she got into a two vehicle wreck July 5, 2020 just after midnight in Jefferson County, where she was allegedly driving under the influence.
Sadly, the wreck claimed the life of a 26-year-old Beaumont woman, Alexandria Jeanette Esquivel.
At the beginning of the trial, prosecutor Jimmy Hamm read out the indictment in court charging Bowman with intoxication manslaughter in the death of Alexandria Esquivel.
After Hamm was finished reading the indictment, the Honorable Larry Thorne asked Bowman how she pleaded, to which she replied not guilty.
In his opening comments, Hamm told the jury that they can expect to hear from the officers who responded to the deadly wreck at the intersection of Reynolds at College in Beaumont that night.
He went on to tell the jury that they also will see body camera video where Bowman changes her story and gives different versions of what happened.
Hamm then said that Esquivel was in the back seat of a car that had the right of way when Bowman's car suddenly hit it, and that the jury will learn that Bowman was intoxicated when this happened.
On the other side of the aisle, defense attorney Ryan Gertz told the jury that they will hear about the "black box" from both vehicles, and how they will notice differences between the information from each vehicle's black box.
Gertz went on to describe the "low lighting" in the area that the wreck occurred and how Bowman misjudged the distance that the other car was coming from because of it.
According to Gertz, no one in the other vehicle was wearing seatbelts.
Gertz also said that the jury will learn that the other driver was not tested to see if she was intoxicated or even had her phone checked to see if she was texting even though they did both to his client.
He also mentions a dispute over the reliability of the blood test performed on Bowman and why the other driver's blood was never tested.
The trial is being held at the Drug Impact Court.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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