Defendant testifies in Tyler re-sentencing trial

TYLER — The re-sentencing trial for a Central Texas man in Tyler for a fatal wreck on Grande Blvd. back in 2016 has entered its second week. According to our news partner KETK, 46-year-old James Fulton was convicted of criminally negligent homicide for a crash that killed 21-year-old Haile Beasley in 2016 and had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, the maximum punishment allowed by Texas law. Two years later, an appeals court ruled that Fulton received ineffective counsel when his lawyers chose not to present evidence that would have contradicted the testimony of a local waitress. They ordered that the conviction would stay in place, but that Fulton would receive a new sentencing trial. He has been out on bond since August 2019.