Victim's family 'having nightmares' again as defendant's DWI sentence goes through appeals

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The family of 20-year-old Colton Roberts thought a guilty plea and prison sentence for the man who killed him meant closure and justice, but the case is now in the hands of the state's highest criminal court as the defendant's attorneys filed a petition for a discretionary review, according to court records.

Scott Taylor pleaded guilty in August 2023 to intoxication manslaughter for the August 2021 crash that killed Roberts. The crash happened on Jollyville Road just after 9 p.m., right before Roberts was set to return to class at the University of Texas Dallas.

"I'll never get past the loss of Colton, grief doesn't end," said his mother Tanya. She and many others describe him as a vibrant, kind person who loved the outdoors. There's a scholarship in his name at UT-Dallas.

KXAN spoke with Tanya alongside the family's attorney, Amber Russell — two years after Taylor pleaded guilty in a Travis County courtroom.

"He had a 20-year sentence with a caveat that he could challenge the blood draw and the search warrant," Russell said. Additionally, she said, an appeal was already denied on the case.

She worked with the Roberts family on the civil case connected to this incident.

"Everyone hoped that this was going to be put to rest. Unfortunately almost four years to the date of the fatal crash, Tanya got a call from the DA's Office that they had filed a petition for discretionary review."

Taylor's attorney explained "when a Court of Appeals affirms a conviction, an individual has a right to file a petition for discretionary review in the court of criminal appeals to address issues that were raised in the court of appeals... We believe that the search warrant affidavit lacked probable cause and we continue to fight for our client."

Tanya said revisiting the details of the case through more court proceedings is trying on the entire family.

"I am back at having nightmares and intrusive images," Tanya said. "Which I had been able to have quieted down, and it's because having something like this come back in such an egregious manner puts the family right back in it."

Russell said there is no timeline that mandates how quickly the courts have to rule on Taylor's appeal.

Defendant had previous DWIs before crash that killed Roberts

KXAN previously dug further into Taylor’s case, finding evidence of multiple DWI arrests.

According to his Texas Department of Public Safety criminal history report, Taylor has two previous misdemeanor DWIs — one in 2000 and another in 2010. They occurred in Travis and Comal counties, respectively.

Unless elevated circumstances are at play, DWIs don’t become felonies until an individual’s third.

A 2015 arrest affidavit shows Austin police arresting Taylor for DWI on Taylor Draper Lane. According to his DPS record, this ultimately became a reckless driving charge. Misdemeanor court records show the DWI charge getting dismissed, and Taylor instead receiving probation for reckless driving.