Athens bus driver crash case delayed again

ATHENS — The Athens bus driver charged for a student’s death after a crash with a train in 2019 had his case delayed further on Thursday in a bizarre twist of events. According to our news partner KETK, a prosecutor from the Texas Attorney General’s Office did not show up to the hearing at the 392nd District Court in Athens. The hearing was set for 9 a.m. in front of Judge Scott McKee and when the case was called, no prosecutor was present. 81-year-old John Stevens is charged with criminally negligent homicide and injury to a child after the January 2019 crash that killed 13-year-old Christopher Bonilla and injured 9-year-old Joselyne Torres. The case had been handed off to the AG earlier this year after the Henderson District Attorney Office recused themselves for a “conflict of interest.” A prosecutor for the AG’s Office appeared at a hearing in June to announce that the case was being sent back to the grand jury because they “were not happy with the language of the indictments.”

That prosecutor shortly retired after that June hearing. Defense attorney Brian Schmidt said that they were made aware of the retirement well before Thursday’s hearing and a new prosecutor should have been assigned. Schmidt and co-defense lawyer Justin Weiner said in an interview outside the courtroom that it was “probably something that slipped through the cracks” and that “these things happen.” He did state that it was frustrating because they were hoping to move the case forward, which has been delayed on numerous occasions over the last two-and-a-half years. McKee would not set a new date for the status hearing until he had heard back from the AG’s office.