LEAGUE CITY, Texas — A district court judge is expected to rule today whether a jury can hear blood-test evidence taken from a man police accused of killing a woman in an alcohol-related crash.
Testimony began Tuesday in the manslaughter trial of Anthony Lester, 44, who League City police accused of being intoxicated during a car crash that killed Donna Lee Banduch-Lawson.
Banduch-Lawson, 47, died Aug. 15, 2007, after a head-on collision trapped her inside her automobile on FM 646 just west of South Shore Boulevard. Police accused Lester of crossing the median and causing the collision.
While police were investigating the fatal wreck, another driver approaching the scene crashed into a police car and injured an officer, said Greg Kunkel, a League City emergency medical services worker who testified Tuesday. That motorist also was accused of driving while intoxicated, Kunkel said.
After the jury was sent home Tuesday, prosecutors Rebecca Russell and Lester Blizzard called a forensic scientist to the stand.
The scientist was expected to testify today that Lester’s blood-alcohol level registered nearly three times the legal limit of .08, testimony in a hearing outside the presence of the jury revealed.
Lester’s attorney, Michael Pena, asked 56th District Court Judge Lonnie Cox to withhold the blood evidence, saying, among other things, that it would be prejudicial.
The blood was drawn about three hours after the crash, and there was no way to determine Lester’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the wreck, Pena argued.
Cox ordered the attorney’s to return to court at 8:15 a.m. today for a hearing on the matter before the state called the scientist with the Department of Public Safety.
League City officer Jake Busard estimated Lester’s car was traveling at 88 mph when the crash happened.
The impact was likely instantly fatal for Banduch-Lawson, Busard said.
"She went from 55 to zero to 22 mph headed the other way," Busard said, of Banduch-Lawson’s car. "That change of speed in two-tenths of a second is not survivable."
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