Trial For Suspect in Fatal Waco Crash Begins - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

(KCEN) -- A Waco detective who talked to Turner after the accident was called to the stand today.

He said upon closer investigation of the vehicle, police found a heroin capsule, a spoon and a cotton ball. The vehicle was kept in an impound lot and was searched again this September, which is when police found a syringe as well.

The detective said Turner told him he was coming from the Lake Brazos Steakhouse and was on his way to pick up his mother. He also told the detective that he was taking medication for an addiction to heroin.

Turner was given several substance tests after the accident, all of which he failed. He refused to give a voluntary blood sample so police got a warrant for his blood and he was taken to Hillcrest hours after the wreck for a blood sample.

Turner told police he had taken seven capsules of heroin on the Sunday before the accident. The accident occurred on a Tuesday.

Eventually though, Turner changed his story and told investigators he was buying heroin before he went to pick up his mother. He thought the heroin capsule was still in his vehicle. He also said he was speeding, going about 50 miles per hour but slowed down right before the wreck.

Police did not arrest Turner at the time of the accident because they were waiting for the reconstruction team to finish processing the scene.

Turner's blood was sent to DPS for an analysis while police obtained a search warrant for the vehicle.

The defense cross-examined the detective and he said that Turner had the right-of-way and Cantrell might have failed to yield the right-of-way. The detective also said Turner was not on his phone at the time of the accident, but did say that heroin does slow down a person's reaction time. 

The detective spoke about when he interviewed Turner just after the wreck, saying, "He said he saw the vehicle cross in front of him. He said it looked like slow motion and he felt he didn't need to slow down."

The defense questioned the syringe found in the car because it was found more than a year after the accident.

Police also searched Turner's phone after the accident and found no phone calls to 9-1-1 but did find a phone call to his mother right after the crash.

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(KCEN) -- Turner sent a text to a friend the day of the accident saying, "I was just in a wreck. I need you to tell the cops I ran into you at the steakhouse for some cash."

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(KCEN) -- Jacob Turner, 27, is now on trial for manslaughter in the June 2011 death of 64-year-old Peggy Cantrell.

Cantrell was killed when Turner's vehicle collided with hers at the intersection of Bosque Boulevard and New Road on June 21 of last year.

The defense said in court today that Turner was driving through a green light and that the victim drove through the intersection when Turner had the right-of-way.

Three witnesses have been called so far and they said Turner was driving about twice the speed limit when his vehicle struck Cantrell's. The speed limit on the road is 35 miles per hour.

Witnesses said they tried to help Cantrell but it appeared she was dead already when they reached the vehicle.

One of the cars burst into flames and that is when witnesses say people from nearby businesses came out with fire extinguishers to put the flames out.

The witnesses also said that after the collision, Turner jumped out of the vehicle and started acting erratically and jittery.

In addition to the three witnesses, a member of the Waco Police Department's Accident Reconstruction Team also took the stand.

He said in his preliminary findings that the minimum speed Turner's vehicle could have been traveling to do that damage was 58.56 miles per hour.

During the investigation, a box which records vehicle information for the five seconds prior to an accident was recovered. According to that box, Turner was traveling between 59 and 61 miles per hour at the time of the accident.

The defense tried to discredit the member of the accident reconstruction team because he put a wrong number on a report for the speed he thought Turner was traveling. The accident reconstruction team member said that was an accident on his part.