Fatality trial tossed

Local News

July 30, 2007

Evidence gathered illegally, judge rules

By Brad Rollins The San Marcos Record Mon Jul 30, 2007, 01:43 PM CDT

San Marcos — After a judge threw out evidence tainted by errors during the investigation, charges on Tuesday were dropped against a man accused of driving drunk and causing an accident that killed a young San Marcos city worker.

Prosecutors said Aaron Tramel, 22, of Sugar Land rear-ended a car driven by Lisanne Foster, 27, of Maxwell on Texas 80, knocking her vehicle into oncoming traffic where it was struck by a truck.

The parks and recreation department manager's death was one of four during a bloody week in May 2006 that saw four people die on roads in and near San Marcos.

Tramel was arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety officer after, the trooper said, he failed a field sobriety test.

A blood test taken later confirmed that he was intoxicated and detected trace amounts of marijuana.

On the way to the hospital, Tramel said he had been drinking with friends at the river in Martindale, an interrogation caught on tape.

Jury selection for his trial on the second-degree felony charges started Monday.

But in a pretrial evidentiary hearing on Tuesday, 274th District Judge Gary Steel granted a motion by Tramel's attorney to throw out evidence they said was collected illegally.

The ruling meant prosecutors could not use the blood test results and Tramel's statements because he was not lawfully under arrest or detained at the time they were collected.

A field sobriety test was not illegally or properly administered, the motion argued.

Tramel's attorney, Robert Kahn of San Antonio, could not be reached for comment. District Attorney Sherri Tibbe declined to answer questions about the decision but said she would release a written statement today.

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