A state district judge this week called a mistrial before a jury could be picked for the re-trial of a Beaumont man convicted in 2014 of murder for the death of a Vidor teenager in a car crash.
163rd State District Judge Dennis Powell ruled a mistrial because people in the jury pool had heard about the case and had made a decision.
36-year-old Kelvin Lee Roy was convicted of murder and sentenced to 75 years in state prison during a jury trial before Powell in August 2014. He was found guilty of killing 16-year-old Alexandria “Lexy” Bertrand.
The teenager was killed on February 7, 2014, when Roy speeded down Main Street in Vidor. The car he was driving went airborne on the railroad tracks. The sedan landed on top of the Honda minivan in which Bertrand was riding with her mother.
Roy’s girlfriend, who was in the car with Roy, testified that he had smoked PCP and threatened to kill them by wrecking her car. She said they had driven at a high speed from Beaumont on Interstate 10 and turned into Vidor. He had been drinking but his blood alcohol was below the legal amount of intoxication. Besides the PCP, he also had marijuana in his blood.
The Texas Ninth Court of Appeals in Beaumont ordered a re-trial after a similar decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The courts ruled the judge should have allowed the jury to consider a conviction of manslaughter, which carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
Once again the focus is on the rights of the offender, who was clearly found guilty before a jury of his peers. What of the right of that defenseless teenage girl who was needlessly taken from her parents, loved ones and promising future? I do not believe 75 years is enough.
I couldn’t agree more! The true victims are the young teenager & her family! There is no justice in Orange County if this is what we allow. Heartbreaking!