This is the intersection where the accident occurred.
Before my father-in-law’s case could proceed to the higher court in Celaya, a mandatory reconstrución de hechos (reenactment) had to be held. This required all participants, witnesses, lawyers, la juez (the judge) and a neutral perito (sort of like a detective) to be present. This was scheduled December 27, the Friday after Christmas, at 9 a.m. in the morning.
As it turns out, in a rare weather fluke, it happened to be raining that morning, something that is far from common in December. Since it had not been raining the day of the accident, the judge suspended the proceedings. This angered many of the witnesses, since they had lost a day’s work and would lose a second day’s work for the rescheduled event. Although it was a valid point, if the judge really was concerned about mimicking as close as possible the actual scene, she would have rescheduled this for mid-May.
Be that as it may, the proceeding was rescheduled for January 2, which was the Thursday after New Year’s. We made arrangements for my husband to take his father to the courthouse and my son to help his aunt in the Tortilleria. Unfortunately, we had in mind for some reason that January 2 was the Friday after New Year’s and so when my sister-in-called to say that we had been mistaken in the day, there was pure pandemonium. I had already left for my classes and had taken my son’s phone with me to charge at the school. So there was no phone in La Yacata for me to call to tell them of the mix-up. I still had 30 minutes before the students were due to arrive, so I raced to La Yacata on my moto and arrived beeping at the house. When I explained the situation, my husband jumped on his moto and headed for the courthouse and my son hopped up behind me to go to the tortilleria.
When I dropped my son off, I glared at my sister-in-law and demanded to know why she hadn’t called sooner! I then zoomed back to the school just in time for my first class of the day.
My husband was able to meet up with my father-in-law before the whole crew went out to the scene of the accident and therefore, provided some moral support. He said that the lawyer remarked that since all the witnesses said different things, winning the case would be canijo (difficult), but he was going to continue. The alternative is a murder conviction and jail time for my father-in-law and that just isn’t right.
So the next step is to wait for the court case to be called in Celaya and see what there is to be seen.
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Surviving Mexico 