The prosecution has rested in the intoxication-manslaughter trial of Kendall Batchelor, who testified she was drunk the night she got behind the wheel of a truck that officials say plowed into a man’s car and killed him.
Other revelations the court heard during proceedings this past week included testimony that Batchelor requested a specific highway patrolman be called to the scene.
The trial of Batchelor, 23, who is the daughter of luxury auto dealer Ken Batchelor, resumes 8 a.m. Monday in the courtroom of 451st state District Judge Kristen Cohoon.
Batchelor is charged with the second-degree felony in the death of 48-year-old David John Belter, a longtime Boerne resident.
She was arrested June 2 after being accused of driving a large pickup into oncoming traffic on Texas 46, hitting and killing Belter, who drove a smaller sedan.
After the state rested on Wednesday, Batchelor’s defense attorney, Louis D. Martinez, began to call his witnesses.
Batchelor took the stand that day.
When prosecutors asked Batchelor if she was intoxicated while she sped down the state highway in her truck June 2 or when she missed her turn, she simply replied, “Yes.”
During the prosecution’s time calling witnesses and presenting evidence, Department of Public Safety Trooper Allen Meyer’s body camera footage was played from the night of the accident, confirming Batchelor asked for Trooper Robert LaFerney by name.
“Trooper Meyer called me on the phone, and he said that he was going to a commercial truck crash where multiple people had been injured or possibly killed. Once (Meyer) got on the scene, obviously it was a pickup truck,” LaFerney testified Tuesday. “Beer cans were strewn about the crime scene…. It was my determination they had been scattered due to the collision and most likely came from the truck itself.”
The trooper said he didn’t know Batchelor personally.
“I’ve met her maybe once,” LaFerney said. “We came into contact during traffic stops.”
A friend of Batchelor’s, Alex Babineaux, also took the stand.
According to Babineaux, Batchelor called that night asking him to come to the home he shares with his wife off 46.
When she didn’t arrive within the 20-minute drive time, he went to the scene of the accident.
Prosecutor Gretchen Flader asked the man who’d known Batchelor since high school if he offered to give Batchelor a ride.
While Babineaux testified the offer was made, he added it was done out of habit rather than any particular concern.
Babineaux said he’d seen Batchelor visibly intoxicated before, but he couldn’t tell prosecutors how much she’d had to drink in those instances.
“That was a long time ago. I don’t recall that,” he told the court.
While the state brought an expert witness to help define intoxication – asserting the American Medical Association now says a .04% blood-alcohol level causes physical and mental impairment rather than the .08% adopted across the country – Shelby Rydell, a DPS staffer, testified Batchelor’s blood draw June 2 showed a blood-alcohol content of .16%.
If convicted, Batchelor could face two to 20 years in state prison.
Proceedings against Batchelor began May 15 with a marathon jury-selection process involving up to 200 potential jurors that lasted nine hours. Cohoon indicated she called on such a large jury pool to ensure fairness after denying the defense’s motion for a change of venue the week before.
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