SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — Witnesses began taking the stand Tuesday morning, March 7, in the 51st District Court of Tom Green County for the State of Texas versus Jose Trevino trial.

Jose Trevino Jr., 40, was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and the murder of Jason Garivay on June 19, 2021, after blunt force trauma caused Garivay to go into cardiac arrest and hypoxia, which occurs when the brain is not being supplied with oxygen.

Gabriel Diggs, a coworker and friend of Garivay, explained to the jury what went on inside The Penny Tap House that night.

For Diggs, the night started off after he and ‘Joe Angel’ also known as Trevino, arrived at The Penny Tap House at 2412 College Hills around sunset on June 18th, 2021, in Diggs’ black truck. Video surveillance that was submitted as evidence and played during the trial shows Diggs, Trevino, Garivay and a female Diggs identified as Garivay’s girlfriend entering the bar at 9:04 p.m.

Jurors watched as surveillance shows Diggs and Trevino claim a table together, while Garivay and the female he was with go to a table adjacent to Diggs. A second video introduced to the court showed Roy Chavarria and a female that Diggs identifies as Chavarria’s wife entering the bar at 9:19 p.m. As the video continues Chavara is seen walking up to greet Diggs and Trevino before all five people gathered around Diggs’s table.

When state prosecutors asked Diggs what the group of five people did that night, he shared that they drank, ate and talked. He also stated that Trevino and Jason played pool together that night.

The defense counsel rose many questions about the amount of alcohol and other drugs that were possibly consumed that night. A toxicology report that was done on Garivay shows an alcohol content level of 2.95, which is four times the legal drinking limit, and metabolized cocaine in his system. Forensic pathologist Luisa Florez testified that despite testing positive, there was no specific amount of cocaine in Garivay’s system. Diggs told the jury that he did not see anyone using drugs in The Penny Tap House that night.

At 12:00 a.m. video surveillance from The Penny Tap House show Trevino and Garivay laughing, shaking hands and hugging as the group continued drinking into the early hours of June 19. Although Diggs recalled the group shaking hands and leaving the bar after Roy, video surveillance shows Garivay’s girlfriend pushing Garvey against a nearby wall and placing herself in-between Garivay and Trevino before the group went outside.

Once outside, Diggs shared, he and Trevino started to go to his truck to leave when Trevino told him he would be back. Diggs testified that Trevino returned within five minutes to the passenger side of the truck and told Diggs ‘let’s roll’. When asked if Trevino had stated anything else after getting into the truck, Diggs recalled Trevino saying that he got into a fight with Garivay but did not appear to be bleeding and seemed fine.

Diggs shared that he and Trevino had talked about what took place that night since then but does not remember what was said.

Witness testimonies will continue on Wednesday, March 8.