Cell Phone Use Center of Homicide Trial

From MyFoxHouston.com:

HOUSTON - Testimony has begun in the trial of a young woman who has been charged in the death of a man who was killed in a March 2008 vehicle accident. The victim's parents say that the woman's cell phone use contributed to the crash.

Jeri Montgomery, 24, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of 25-year-old Chance Wilcox. The accident took place on Interstate 45, the North Freeway, near FM 2920 when Montgomery's car hit the truck that Wilcox was in and caused it to roll several times, according to the indictment against her.

Wilcox was thrown from the truck and killed.

The indictment against Montgomery says she made an unsafe lane change and failed to be aware of other vehicles on the road. Wilcox's relatives say that investigators told them that Montgomery was trying to balance her steering wheel and cell phone, but Harris County Assistant District Attorney Brent Mayr has neither confirmed nor denied that cell phone use was a factor in the accident.

John Choate, Montgomery's defense attorney said in a statement that "(t)here were no drugs, no alcohol. It was just a wreck. I've heard they'll bring evidence that she was on the phone, but she was not on the phone."

If convicted, Montgomery faces between two and ten years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.