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Aug 6, 2008 6:01 pm US/Central
Jury Starts Deliberations In Bus Crash Case
WILLMAR, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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The jury in Willmar was to start its deliberations Wednesday afternoon in the criminal vehicular homicide case against Olga Marina Franco Del Cid. (File)
CBS
Closing arguments finished Wednesday in the trial of a woman accused of driving the minivan that caused a fatal school bus crash near Cottonwood in February.
The jury in Willmar started its deliberations about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in the criminal vehicular homicide case against Olga Marina Franco Del Cid. The case was moved from Lyon County due to pretrial publicity.
The 24-year-old woman faces four of the homicide charges and 20 more charges related to the crash that killed four children and injured sixteen others. Those killed were: Jesse Javens, 13; his brother, Hunter Javens, 9; Emilee Olson, 9; and Reed Stevens, 12.
Franco's main defense has been that she wasn't driving the van. She testified that her boyfriend, Francisco S. Mendoza, was driving. He fled the scene and is believed to now be in his native Mexico.
Defense attorney Neal Eisenbraun told the jurors Wednesday that the state had not proven it's case because it Mendoza get away. He also said Mendoza' flight could be used as evidence of this guilt.
"He knew he was driving and that he would get in trouble for it," Eisenbraun said. "They (the state) are desperate to convict someone in this tragedy. The woman they have had locked up for the past half-year will do just fine."
During his final argument, Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes pointed to the testimony of firefighters and engineers who said they found Franco pinned in the driver's seat.
"She had to be extricated form the vehicle," Maes said. "The fact that she had to be extricated is the telling tale."
District Judge David W. Peterson announced Tuesday that the jury will be sequestered during deliberations.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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