Jury begins deliberations in Jana Giron’s inattentive driving case

TUCSON, Arizona (13 News) – The jury is now considering the case in the trial of Jana Giron, who faces multiple charges in connection with a fatal crash involving two men in Oro Valley in 2019.

The prosecution and defense made their closing arguments on Wednesday, August 21, and the jury began deliberations at about 1:30 p.m. Since no verdict was reached, the jury went home at about 5 p.m. and will return on Thursday.

Prosecutors said none of this would have happened if Giron hadn't been texting while driving. Her defense said there was no evidence she did that and she wasn't responsible for all of the events of the accident.

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Giron is accused of two counts of manslaughter, two counts of criminal damage, endangerment and tampering with evidence.

On November 13, 2019, Giron was driving north on Shannon Road in Oro Valley when she struck an Acura driven by Caitlin Festerling and in which Paul Garcia was a passenger. Festerling was turning left onto Sahuaro Drive. The impact threw the Acura in front of a southbound pickup truck. Festerling and Garcia were killed in the crash.

Investigators say Giron was texting before the crash and deleted the messages afterward. Giron, the last witness to testify, said she was texting at a stop sign and not while driving. Her defense also said Giron was not at fault for Festerling's Acura veering left into oncoming traffic and that she did not know the crash would be fatal.

“It's not our job, we never have a job, it's their job to prove that the driving of the Acura was not the cause of death. And if you go through that causation investigation and find that Jana Giron's actions were not the cause of death, you don't have to go any further,” Giron's attorney Dawn Priestman said.

“It's ridiculous to say that Caitlin is to blame. Caitlin was waiting to turn. She had her turn signal on. Jana Giron was the one who wasn't paying attention. She was busy on her phone, minding her own business that she considered more important than driving,” said prosecutor Rachel Stiles.

The jury will continue its deliberations on Thursday morning.

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