Friday - Jason Brandon Esque, 39, of Buena Vista, was found guilty today by a jury in Buena Vista Circuit Court on five felony charges and two misdemeanors – including felony homicide and involuntary manslaughter - in connection with the death of Donnie Walker Coleman last March.
The charges resulted from a vehicle crash on March 10, 2025, where a vehicle driven by Esque drove through a stop sign at the intersection of 22nd Street and Maple Avenue and struck the driver’s side door of a vehicle being driven by Coleman. Coleman was taken first to the hospital in Lexington and then to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on March 14. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma from the car accident.
Esque was taken into custody after the accident on March 10 and was initially charged with two felony counts of driving under the influence causing serious injury, one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident, one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence and one misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license.
Following Coleman’s death, one of the DUI causing serious injury charges was dropped and Esque was indicted by a grand jury on July 23 on one felony count of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and one count of felony homicide, as well as a felony count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, which was the underlying felony for the felony homicide charge.
The trial began on Thursday with the jury hearing testimony from multiple witnesses throughout the day, including from Deborah Teague, who was in the car with Coleman when the accident occurred. Following closing arguments this morning, the case was given to the jury for deliberation. They returned guilty verdicts on all seven charges in just over an hour.
“I’m always happy when I feel like the jury has paid attention and given serious consideration to the charges, and they certainly did that today,” Buena Vista Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Elrod told The News-Gazette after the verdicts were delivered.
Before certifying the jury’s verdicts, Judge Christopher Russell asked Esque if he had anything he would like to say.
“I didn’t mean for none of this to happen,” he replied. “I’m sorry.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 22.
A full report of the proceedings will appear in the April 15 edition of The News-Gazette.
