TEMPLE, Texas — The court date for the Temple woman accused of throwing hot soup in a Sol De Jalisco employee's face last year was rescheduled to Feb. 27.
Amanda Martinez was supposed to appear in front of a jury over the incident Monday, Dec. 5. She faces one misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury.
If Martinez is found guilty, she will face up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both, Temple Police spokeswoman Alejandra Arreguin told 6 News last November.
"I would like to know the reason that would enable someone to throw or assault someone over food, there's no excuse for that," Jeremy Gleghorn, the co-general manager of Sol De Jalisco in Temple, said.
Gleghorn was there for the victim of the soup throwing, Jannelle Broland, after Martiz attacked her.
According to First Assistant County Attorney Richard Lazott, Martiz's defense attorney asked for a reset because "the discovery and evaluation of the evidence was not complete".
Martinez could have taken a plea deal in March, but she rejected it.
6 News Legal Expert Liz Mitchell has seen the soup throwing video and says the evidence is strong.
"With a video showing moments before and after, it's not a very likely defense in this case," she said.
We asked Mitchell why someone would not take a plea deal with such hard evidence against them, and she says it could be a multitude of reasons, including trying to build an affirmative defense or just taking their chances.
"One thing to consider is in a misdemeanor, the jury is six people so maybe they are banking on the fact that convincing all six people beyond a reasonable doubt of guilt -- they just want to roll the dice," Mitchell said.
But, Mitchell says on the flip side, there could be more serious penalties looming.
As Gleghorn waits for the trial, he said he hopes no matter what happens, he just wants a lesson to be learned from this.
"Hopefully it will stop her from doing it in the future," he said.