Witness says fatal hit-and-run in Selma was 'deliberate'

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The details of a fatal hit-and-run in Selma last year took center stage in court on Wednesday.

On the stand, Jose Gayton, who was heading home on February 19, 2022.

He was the passenger in a car heading north on McCall Avenue in Selma.

As he approached Selma Plaza, Gayton told the court he heard and saw a disturbing collision mere feet away.

"Thump," Gayton said he heard. "I immediately saw a man was in the air flipping, and he landed. I saw him land. And the van sped off even faster."

Prosecutors say Jessie Villegas Jr. was behind the driving the van that struck and killed 33-year-old Dominique Augustine on the sidewalk. Villegas was arrested in Fresno nine days later and now faces three charges, including murder.

Villegas pleaded not guilty and did not show much emotion in court.

The 29-year-old sat in a red prison jumpsuit and wore a surgical mask as the trial against him got underway.

Augustine's family maintains that Villegas struck him intentionally, and Gayton testified that he believes the collision was "deliberate."

But that testimony proved contentious when it was defense attorney Annette Smurr's turn to question Gayton.

She pressed Gayton on how he would have known it was deliberate. When Gayton said he did not know what was happening in Villegas' mind, the defense attorney pushed him to walk back his earlier answer.

He did not and said "madness" was going through Villegas' mind.

"So, now you're a mind reader?" Smurr asked Gayton. As the prosecutor objected to Smurr's question, Smurr pushed back.

"I would say this witness is hostile," Smurr said of Gayton.

After hearing from the passerby and other witnesses Wednesday afternoon, Judge Gregory Fain will soon rule if there is enough evidence to proceed in the murder case against Villegas.

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