BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Bexar County jurors decided the fate of a man who struck a woman head-on in a wrong-way crash more than two years ago.
Christopher Rey Navarro, 27, was originally charged with murder in connection with the January 2024 driving death of Yulissa Valero, 26. While a mistrial was declared on the murder charge, jurors convicted Navarro on Tuesday on five lesser charges and sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
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Navarro was convicted on the following charges, which are all considered second-degree felonies:
- Manslaughter
- Two aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury charges
- Two aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges
The manslaughter conviction carries the longest prison sentence (18 years). The sentences will all be served concurrently.
Court proceedings came to an end Tuesday afternoon, a full week since the original murder trial began inside Bexar County’s 399th Criminal District Court. Visiting Judge Melisa Skinner presided over the case.
Last Friday, the jury began deliberating on a verdict. Jurors did not convict Navarro of murder, but they officially found him guilty on the five charges Monday. The jury deliberated Navarro’s sentencing for approximately a day.
Background
San Antonio police said Navarro was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 35 near West César E. Chávez Boulevard.
Authorities said Navarro collided with another vehicle head-on just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 13, 2024. First responders pronounced Valero, a passenger in the other vehicle, dead at the scene.
Had he been convicted of murder, Navarro could have faced up to life in prison.
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