By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Further action in the case of a Del Rio woman charged with a felony following a collision that killed a man here in June 2024 has been postponed until late October.
The case of Karen Aida Hernandez was on the docket of the 83 rd Judicial District Court Monday morning.
Hernandez was charged with the offense of collision involving personal injury or death, a second-degree felony, after an investigation into a motor vehicle collision that killed Benito Omar Calvillo, 29, a resident of Del Rio.
Hernandez was indicted on the offense in January, and pleaded not guilty to the charge on July 14 during her arraignment before 83 rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena.
During the arraignment, Cadena asked Hernandez if she had an attorney to represent her, and Hernandez told Cadena she would be trying to hire Eagle Pass attorney Greg Torres. Torres was in court today representing Hernandez.
The court’s docket call typically includes dozens of criminal cases, as it did today.
Cadena opened the proceedings at 9 a.m. and began calling cases
one at a time. Attorneys representing defendants in those cases approached the judge’s bench to discuss the status of their cases. In many instances, attorneys for the defendants are still preparing their cases, and Cadena granted requested continuances for subsequent court appearances in September or October.
Hernandez’s case was called just after 9:30 a.m., with Torres rising from his seat to announce he was present to represent her, and Assistant District Attorney Daniel Esquivel standing to represent the state.
Torres told Cadena he has conferred with Esquivel about the case and noted that he was hired to represent Hernandez only about a week ago.
Cadena ordered the case to be placed on the court’s docket again for Oct. 27.
Esquivel then asked the judge if he and Torres could speak about the case with the judge in chambers after the other cases had been dealt with.
Conferences before the judge in chambers are not open to the public.
Before the morning’s proceedings began, Torres said he preferred not to comment on the case until he has had a chance to review it more thoroughly.
Hernandez was arrested June 6, 2024, following an investigation by the Del Rio Police Department.
Police began the investigation early on the morning of June 6, 2024, after a passerby reported a person lying in a concrete drainage channel just off the roadway in the 1700 block of U.S. Highway 277 in far south Del Rio, an area known locally as Eagle Pass Hill.
Officers responding to the passerby’s 9-1-1 call found Calvillo’s body, as well as debris
from a vehicle in the roadway nearby. After determining the color and type of vehicle, police used license plate reader technology to ascertain the vehicle they were looking for was a black Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Officers located the vehicle and took Hernandez into custody.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
