HOUSTON -- A Houston father will have to wait until next week to learn his fate for the drunken-driving deaths of five children, including three of his own, who drowned after he lost control of his car and veered into a rain-swollen ditch.
A court hearing to decide 34-year-old Chanton Jenkins’ punishment began Thursday but won’t resume until Aug. 5 because of a scheduling conflict by the judge in the case. Jenkins pleaded guilty earlier this year to five counts of intoxication manslaughter.
After testimony from both prosecution and defense witnesses concludes, state District Judge Mary Lou Keel is expected to issue a sentence. Jenkins faces up to life in prison.
Police say Jenkins was driving drunk and using his cell phone in April 2009, when he lost control of his car and it plunged into the ditch.
