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Former FWPD Officer On Trial For Intoxication Manslaughter

By Melissa Newton, CBS 11 News

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Jesus Cisneros (credit: Tarrant Co. Sheriff's Dept.)

Jesus Cisneros (credit: Tarrant Co. Sheriff’s Dept.)

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Testimony resumed Wednesday in the Jesus Cisneros trial. The former Fort Worth police officer is accused of killing wife and mother Sonia Baker while driving drunk last December. Cisneros faces intoxication manslaughter charges.

A toxicologist testified Wednesday that Cisneros had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he crashed into Baker’s car at the intersection of Columbus Trail and Evening Star in southwest Fort Worth.

Cisneros, who was off-duty at the time and driving home from a sports bar, was in an unmarked police vehicle, a Toyota Highlander, when he crashed into Baker’s Chrysler PT Cruiser while traveling at more than 70 miles an hour.

During testimony the state called a retired police officer, who is now an accident reconstruction expert, to the stand. Tim Lovett, with Crash Dynamics, testified that the crash never would have happened if Cisneros hadn’t been drinking or speeding.

“I cannot imagine the decision process was not inhibited by alcohol induction into the system,” he said in court. “If we slowed the Toyota Highlander down to 35 miles an hour, there would be no contact between these two vehicles.”

When it was first discovered that a law enforcement official had hit Baker her mother, Stella Lopez, said, “A Fort Worth police officer? That’s what outrages me,” Lopez told CBS 11. “I can understand an accident, but not a drunken Fort Worth police officer. I just can’t understand that. I hope he rots in hell. I really do. I’m a Christian woman, but I don’t know if I could even forgive him. It’s going to take a lot for me to forgive somebody who took my daughter this way.”

Cisneros has since resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department.

If the jury finds the former officer guilty, Cisneros could face up to 20 years in prison.

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  • Tom

    Look, the guy has no prior convictions and he just isn’t going to do anywhere near 20 years! He should have some time tacked on for his stupidity and for his apparent lack of remorse! I’m waiting to see what trickes Jum Lane has up his sleeve. He probably should have recommended that Cisneros plead guilty and ask that the judge sentence him. I know he could have bargained it down to 2 to 5 years! This guy is an embarrasment to law enforcement and to the FWPD in particular. He is not subject to punishment that equils what he deserves! Please, though, remember; he is not the average cop! He is the exception! Now the FWPD may need some blame for the way they’ve ignored this type of behavior for years, but they at least appear to be trying to get a handle on it. Of course another of their cops was arrested just this week in a suburban city for, yes, you’ve got it! DWI!

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