It was a packed courtroom on Wednesday for the trial of an elderly man accused of running over and killing an 11-year-old girl from Bluetown.
Family members of 11-year-old Valeria Garcia and the supporters of the man accused causing her death back in February 2009 listened in as he took the 75-year-old man took the stand.
The girl's mother testified about the morning she watched as Valeria crossed the street in Bluetown to get on the school bus but never made it.
"The bus had it's lights on when it was approaching," Garcia said.
Arturo Martinez Reyes tells his own story about that fateful morning.
He told a judge and jury that he was driving down Highway 281 going about 40 miles an hour when a tractor passed him up and blew debris onto his window.
He recalls turning on his windshield wipers and then taking a curve before seeing a silhouette.
That ended up being Valeria.
"The impact of the little girl with the car was on the right side where the signal is on the car," Martinez Reyes said.
The retired pastor says the impact shook him and left him stunned for a few minutes.
He claims he didn’t even see the bus until moments after.
The bus driver testified earlier this week that he did have his warning signals on.
"When I was trying to take the turn, I saw the bus. I honestly didn't see lights on the bus before that," Martinez Reyes said.
As the 75-year-old man who uses a walker to move around testified Wednesday, Valeria's family members shook their heads in disagreement and wiped tears from their eyes.
The little girl would have been in middle school.
Jurors began deliberations late Wednesday afternoon.
Martinez Reyes faces up to two years in jail for injury to a child and manslaughter.
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