Local News
Civil lawsuit filed in wreck deaths
Area pastor, 12-year-old daughter killed in crash last Feb.
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.
- Local News
-
-
Cruising the seas
Ewald and Doris Albers take the Athens Daily Review with them on their cruise to Honduras and Mexico, aboard the Voyager of the Seas.
-
Time to get busy pruning
February is here and it is time to get busy, for fruit growers that is, pruning fruit trees in East Texas.
-
SAR honors a good corporate citizen
Athens Chapter Sons of the American Revolution President Charles Luna, right, presents First State Bank, Athens Vice President Michael Neill with the Community Service Award for funding its Eagle Scout Scholarship, the Jeff Austin, Senior Scholarship.
-
ETMC Auxiliary Report
To those of you who have considered joining our auxiliary but haven’t done it yet, I wish you could have been at the Feb. 3 meeting.
-
ETGS to focus on writing
The East Texas Genealogical Society will hold its regular monthly meeting on Saturday, February 13, at 2 p.m. in the Taylor Auditorium at the Tyler Public Library, 201 S. College, Tyler.
-
Financial gifts for your valentine
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, so you’d better get going with the flowers and chocolates for your sweetie.
-
Church News
Church News will run as items are received, based on available space.
-
Community Calendar
Community Calendar runs daily in the Review.
-
Filing opens for municipal and school board elections
The month-long filing opens Monday for municipal and school board elections in Texas.
-
New fire marshal doesn’t come into job cold
The new Henderson County Fire Marshal combed through the ashes left behind by many blazes in his career.
- More Local News Headlines
-
