News 14 Carolina's Jennifer Moxley is at the Rowan County courthouse with more on the first day of testimony in the Rigo Martinez case.
SALISBURY, N.C. -- Jurors in a drunken driving murder trial heard testimony Tuesday that the accused driver, an illegal immigrant, was so intoxicated he didn't realize his leg was broken in two places.
A paramedic told jurors that after the crash in Landis that killed Leeanna Newman and her unborn baby, the other driver, Rigo Martinez, admitted to drinking 20 beers.
“This was supposed to be a great year with Leeanna,” Newman’s aunt, Jeanette Bentley, said. “She was finally at home, her husband had a job that he liked, they were looking for a home, her baby was due in March. It was like her whole life had just come together.”
The accused driver, Rigo Martinez, listens to testimony through an interpreter.
But it all ended Feb. 6. Now, seven months later, the family is reliving the day Newman and her unborn daughter were killed.
The district attorney showed video from Kannapolis officer D.L. Horne's in-car camera. The screen was turned so only the jury could see the video, which captured the actual crash. Wearing purple, Leeanna's favorite color, family members listened intently to testimony.
“The red Jeep went around this house off of Main [Street]. He went around it twice then he got back on Main and sped up and the officer was behind him and I was behind the officer,” recalled witness Karen Page. “By the time I caught up with them, the wreck had already happened.”
Also on the stand Tuesday were a paramedic and a hospital translator who testified that Martinez didn't request any pain medicine and in fact didn't even realize he had broken his leg in two places. Reports indicate Martinez's blood alcohol level was 0.27.
“I repeated that back to him, ‘veinte cervezas.’ He said ‘ci.’ I said ‘20 beers?’ He said ‘yes,’” paramedic Lawrence Kersey said.
The district attorney plans to call two more witnesses Wednesday. Jurors will hear from a chemical analyst about Martinez's blood alcohol level and they will hear from a doctor who tried to treat Newman in the emergency room.