A technology error led to a motion for mistrial between military families and the housing company being sued.
This week, testimony began in the case of a US Army Lt. Col. Shane Vinales and his wife Becky Vinales suing AETC II Privatized Housing, a company that oversees Hunt Military Communities who leases and maintains homes on JBSA Randolph.
After lunch, Judge Richard Farrer informed the two parties that the jury noticed a panel in the hallway of the federal courthouse that read ‘Michael Daniels v. AETC II Privatized Housing.’
“Why does it say Daniels?” A juror asked a jury coordinator.
“It depends who the first person on the case is,” the jury coordinator told the court under oath.
Although the Daniels family is one of many involved in the lawsuits, the Vinales family is the only one whose case is being heard in court.
After a brief round of questioning, defense attorney Walter Boone moved for a mistrial.
“There’s no way to unring the bell,” Boone said. Attorney Frank Guerra argued that the judge should instruct the jury to consider solely the Vinales case and don’t consider the existence of any other case. The mistrial motion was denied, and the Vinales family hugged each other, while their attorneys looked visibly relieved.
The jury was instructed to ignore the error and consider only the Vinales’ case in their deliberations.
It nearly overshadowed some emotional testimony from Becky Vinales, wife of US Army Lt. Col. Shane Vinales who was questioned for hours about the work orders she submitted to Hunt Military Communities.
According to her testimony, she notified Hunt about the issues in the house since day one including mold. According to work order history submitted by Hunt, mold was never mentioned on the work orders until January 2019. Vinales teared up during testimony.
“I was just appalled,” Vinales recalls when her living room carpet, which she reported had mold in it, was eventually removed after months of reporting it to maintenance staff.
Vinales says it was like a full time job submitting and keeping up with all the work orders, for issues such as: master toilet seat is loose, kitchen drawer bottom is falling out, house is shifting, ants, caulk on the bathroom hall back, need ceiling fan installed, and many more.
Vinales testifies that she requested Hunt to do mold testing on the home, but says they never did it.
“They made us feel like we were horrible people,” Vinales said.
Attorneys for the defendants did not want to answer questions about the failed motion for mistrial. The defendants could call their witnesses when the trial continues next week.