In a rare legal move, defendant Jana Giron testifies in manslaughter trial

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Closing arguments have been made and the fate of Jana Giron is now in the hands of a jury. Giron is on trial for allegedly causing a fatal rear-end collision in 2019 that killed Paul Garcia and Caitlin Festerling.

At Tuesday's hearing in Pima County Superior Court, the defense took center stage and called several witnesses, including a driver near the scene of the accident and a traffic investigator who recreated the scene of the accident as part of the initial investigation.

But in a rare legal move, Giron testified in her own defense, claiming that Festerling's car had no brake lights or turn signals at the time of the accident.

“I tried to explain it in some way: It was going, then it stopped going, because there was no sign that it was actually going to stop. It was going, then it just stopped going,” Giron told jurors.

Giron also testified that she sent all of the text messages at a stop sign at the intersection of Saguaro Divide and North Shannon Road.

For more than an hour, prosecutors disputed their version of events, focusing on the deleted text messages, which they said were crucial evidence that Giron was distracted while driving.

“So those text messages are gone, and even when you're confronted with it, you tell them it happened long before the collision,” the prosecutor insisted.

According to evidence presented in court, Giron sent a text message at 3:39 p.m. before receiving a response at 3:40 p.m. – with the first emergency call coming in at 4:41 p.m.

After both sides have made their closing arguments, the jury is expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday.