ATHENS, Texas — The trial of an Athens ISD bus driver charged in connection with the death of one child and injuries to another in 2019 has been set for this October.
John Franklin Stevens, of Mabank, who was driving a school bus when it was struck by a train in January 2019, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and injury to a child. He is out of jail on bond.
Christopher Bonilla, 13, a seventh-grader at Athens Middle School, died as a result of his injuries. Joselyne Torres, 9, a student at Central Athens Elementary, was injured.
According to a report from the Federal Railroad Administration, the bus driver’s failure to stop caused the crash. The bus stopped before the railroad crossing but then kept moving forward on to the tracks, where it was struck by the train.
During a Wednesday afternoon hearing, Judge Scott McKee of the 392nd District Court set the trial date for the morning of Oct. 16. The next pre-trial hearing will be held April 12.
The defense attorneys during the hearing discussed that crossing forms from the Texas Department of Transportation show buses don't cross that crossing where the bus was hit.
The lawyers also noted an engineer reported to his supervisors that he felt there should be crossing arms at that crossing to save lives.
Also in court, the defense said they were previously told the black box for the train was not recovered, but later a former district attorney subpoenaed the black box and it had been sitting in the DA's office the whole time.
Justin Weiner, Brian Schmidt and Mike Head are representing Stevens in this case.