Guilty Verdict Given to Lubbock Man Following Deadly Crash in 2020
On Thursday, June 2nd, a Lubbock man was found guilty of manslaughter after a deadly crash happened back in February of 2020.
The victim, 69-year-old Howard Wright, was turning left onto Slide Road from 75th Street. Then, a Dodge Charger, driven by then-19-year-old Xavier Montalvo, struck the other vehicle. Wright was taken to University Medical Center where he would later be pronounced dead.
KAMC News reports that Montalvo was originally charged with both manslaughter with a deadly weapon and racing on a highway causing serious bodily injury or death. However, he says that he was only trying to get to a doctor's appointment.
The defense team argued that both parties were responsible for the crash, but the prosecution argued that it was Montalvo's actions that directly caused Wright's death.
When asked how fast he was going at the time, Montalvo said he was going roughly the posted speed limit. The prosecution, however, argued that Montalvo was traveling at speeds of 94 miles an hour and was going 73 mph when the crash happened. A detective with Lubbock Police testified that an accident wouldn't have happened if Montalvo was going the speed limit, which was 45 mph.