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March 11, 2009

Civil lawsuit filed in wreck deaths

Area pastor, 12-year-old daughter killed in crash last Feb.

By Art Lawler Cedar Creek Pilot

Lisa Morgan, whose husband and daughter were killed in a head-on auto collision last year, has filed a civil lawsuit against the other driver involved in the wreck.

Lisa Morgan’s suit is against Jose Luis Joel Miramontes Jr., of Kemp. Mrs. Morgan’s husband, Shane — an area pastor — and the couple’s 12-year-old daughter, Kaylee, were killed in the Feb. 13, 2008, crash.

Last September, a Henderson County grand jury returned a criminal indictment against Miramontes as a result of that crash.

Miramontes, 31, was a recruiter for the U.S. Navy at the time of double fatality. He was charged with two counts of manslaughter/criminally negligent homicide in connection to the deaths.

Mrs. Morgan’s civil suit was filed individually and as a personal representative of the estates of Shane Morgan and Kaylee Morgan.

Mr. Morgan was the 34-year-old pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church in Berryville. He was traveling with his entire family on that February afternoon when the collision with Miramontes on Farm-to-Market Road 317 near Leagueville occurred.

Kaylee was killed instantly, and her father died later that evening of his injuries. Mrs. Morgan and her four-year-old daughter, Emily P. Morgan, were also seriously injured in the wreck.

Miramontes’ attorney, Keith Hyde of Dallas, did not return calls asking for comment on the two cases. Miramontes has already pleaded not guilty in the criminal case.

Morgan’s attorney, Randell C. Roberts of Tyler, said the damages in this case are too heavy to even begin to speculate on a monetary reward.

“He (Miramontes) had a clear view and was traveling at a high-rate of speed, and he was on duty in a government uniform,” Roberts said. “In some wrecks you cannot explain what happened. I cannot explain why he would do such a thing.”

Henderson County District Attorney Scott McKee inherited the case for the state when he took office as the new district attorney in Henderson County at the beginning of the year.

“My policy is when attorneys involved in civil cases come here asking for information, I don’t talk to them because I don’t want any civil suit to cloud our minds,” McKee said.

The district attorney also said a status conference on the case has been set for March 17 at 10 a.m., in District Judge Dan Moore’s 173rd District Court.

“Status is the last day for a plea bargain, generally speaking,” McKee said.

“We didn’t offer anything on it,” McKee said, when asked about a possible plea bargain.

“Generally speaking, when an individual causes the death of another, this office feels justice is better served by allowing a jury or a judge to assess punishment, than by offering a plea bargain with a negotiated penitentiary or probation sentence,” McKee said.

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