Floyd County Courthouse (Alex Driggars/Floyd County Record)
UPDATE 8/4 4:30 p.m. – Tara Hughes found guilty of intentionally or knowingly causing blunt force trauma in the death of her daughter Haizlee Trevino.
The jury deliberated for 40 minutes before returning their verdict. Next will be sentencing, in which Hughes faces 5 to 99 years in Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody. The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. Friday.
UPDATE 8/4 1:25 p.m. – After calling two witnesses Thursday afternoon, defense attorney Audie Reese rested his part of the case.
Reese called Hughes’ cousin Kimber Bennett to the stand to discuss seeing Haizlee on July 15. He then called back Mangold nurse Gayla Marble to discuss the timeline of events follow the girl’s death.
Following a short recess Reese told the court Hughes did not wish to testify on her own behalf in the case, something Judge Bill Smith confirmed with Hughes before Reese announced his case was complete.
Closing arguments in the case are set to begin at 1:50 Thursday afternoon.
UPDATE 8/4 12:15 p.m. – A second day of testimony in the wrongful death of a 17-month-old broke for lunch with the state resting their case.
Floyd County District Attorney Wade Jackson started the morning by calling former Mangold ER doctor Robert Chizen, who attended to Haizlee Trevino on the night of her death. Chizen was followed by DPS Special Agent Steven Davis, who interviewed Haizlee’s mother Tara Hughes on July 31, 2019. Following Davis’ testimony Jackson announced the state would rest their case.
Judge Bill Smith then let the jury go until 12:30 Thursday afternoon when defense attorney Audie Reese will begin his opening argument.
ORIGINAL STORY
FLOYDADA – Opening arguments began Wednesday in Judge Bill Smith’s courtroom for a Floydada mother accused of having a role in the 2019 death of her 17-month-old.
Haizlee Rea Trevino was found unresponsive late on the night of July 16, 2019. Her mother, Tara Hughes, was ultimately indicted for the wrongful death of the girl by a Floyd County grand jury the following year.
On Wednesday Hughes and her attorney entered a not guilty plea in the case before Floyd County District Attorney Wade Jackson called the first witness of the day, Floydada EMS Paramedic Mike Reeves. Jackson also called Paramedic Lyndall Stapp and Floyd County Sherriff’s Office Sergeant Ruben DeLeon to the stand in the morning session.
In the afternoon leg of the first day, Jackson called Dr. Thomas Parsons, a Forensic Pathologist who performed the autopsy on Trevino before having Sgt. DeLeon return to the stand. W.J. Mangold Memorial Hospital nurse Gayla Marble and Sheriff Paul Raissez also took the stand before the jury was released just before 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.
Day two of the trial will begin Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the 110th district court at the Floyd County Courthouse.
