SAN ANTONIO – A man who had three drugs in his system when he drove the wrong way and crashed into another vehicle, killing a man, has been convicted of manslaughter.
Paul Donaldson was found guilty of the charge on Friday after more than six years of delays, a reindictment and a change of courts. Donaldson will be sentenced on Nov. 6.
Investigators said Donaldson was driving the wrong way on Interstate 35 when he crashed into 28-year-old Armando Ortiz’s vehicle near Walzem Road on Jan. 15, 2017.
After the crash, Donaldson was tested twice and those toxicology results revealed he had methamphetamine, a weight-loss drug called phentermine and an antidepressant called imipramine in his system, Bexar County Chief Toxicologist Veronica Hargrove testified in court.
Hargrove said there were only trace amounts of each that were found but couldn’t say how they would cause Donaldson to react.
“Whether he’s impaired or not, it can be from the drugs or something else, it’s possible, but again, the drugs were low and weren’t having their intended effect,” Hargrove said.
Donaldson drove on I-35 the wrong way for about six miles before the crash.
One witness who testified said they knew “if that car would have hit me, I would have died.”
He was charged with intoxication manslaughter in April 2017, nearly four months after the crash.
The case finally went to trial this month after a series of delays.
Earlier this year, Ortiz’s family told KSAT that they were “just in this hamster wheel of having to relive this same situation month after month after month.”
The manslaughter case is Donaldson’s seventh driving-related criminal offense in Bexar County, records show. He also has a previous conviction in Tarrant County.
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