Kendall Batchelor: Conviction, Appeal, and Wrongful Death Suit

Kendall Batchelor is a Texas woman serving a 20-year prison sentence for intoxication manslaughter after a June 2022 head-on collision on State Highway 46 outside Boerne that killed 48-year-old David Belter. A Kendall County jury imposed the maximum penalty in May 2023, and the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo upheld both the conviction and the sentence in December 2024.¹ The case drew unusual attention because Batchelor is the daughter of Ken Batchelor, a well-known San Antonio luxury Cadillac dealer, and because prosecutors documented a years-long pattern of alcohol and drug incidents before the fatal crash.²

The Crash That Killed David Belter

Around 10:00 p.m. on June 2, 2022, Batchelor was driving a Ford F-250 pickup westbound in the eastbound lane of State Highway 46.³ She was traveling 83 miles per hour in a no-passing zone when she struck David Belter’s sedan head-on.¹ Belter, a Boerne resident, was pronounced dead at the scene. A witness told investigators that Batchelor’s truck had passed his vehicle at high speed and stayed on the wrong side of the road until impact.⁴

Batchelor, then 22, was taken to University Hospital in San Antonio.³¹⁵

A civil attorney for Belter’s family later subpoenaed Richter Tavern in Boerne for surveillance footage and receipts from that day. The bar’s owner acknowledged through counsel that records involving Batchelor existed but sought a protective order to shield other patrons’ identities.⁶

A Long Record of Alcohol and Drug Incidents

Prosecutors built their case around a pattern stretching back to Batchelor’s teenage years. The documented incidents included:

2015: cited for minor in possession of alcohol on a boat at Horseshoe Bay, with additional underage-drinking citations before she turned 21.⁷
2016: stopped by a DPS trooper for reckless driving and racing on Texas 46. A separate stop at Boerne Lake turned up seven bottles of liquor in her pickup while she was skipping school.⁷
2018: arrested for drunk driving on Adler Road after failing a field sobriety test, with a blood alcohol reading above 0.20%.⁷
July 2019: pleaded guilty to DWI in Kendall County at age 19, receiving nine months of supervised release and a $500 fine.²
December 2021: struck two parked vehicles at a condominium complex while driving at high speed. A Boerne officer referred a DWI charge, but the Kendall County District Attorney’s office declined to pursue it, citing insufficient evidence. She was charged only with failing to stop after an accident, a state jail felony.²

That declined 2021 DWI became a flashpoint. Critics questioned whether Batchelor received favorable treatment because of her family’s prominence. A second DWI conviction would have triggered a license suspension of 180 days to two years under Texas law, potentially keeping her off the road on the night Belter was killed.²

The Trial

Batchelor was tried in May 2023 in the 451st State District Court in Kendall County before Judge Kristen Cohoon.⁵⁸¹²

The state called roughly 60 witnesses across the guilt and sentencing phases and introduced more than 500 images along with hours of video. Exhibits included dashcam and body camera footage from prior police encounters, her 2018 jail booking video, Snapchat images showing beer cans on her vehicle floor, and screenshots from a personal home breathalyzer reading 0.46% and 0.23%.⁷

DPS Trooper Allen Meyer testified about warning Batchelor in 2016: “You’re going to kill someone else on the road or end up in a ditch somewhere.” Taking the stand on May 17, 2023, Batchelor admitted she had been intoxicated while driving on the night of the crash.⁹

The Defense

Martinez centered his case on mental health and trauma. He told the court Batchelor suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety, and substance abuse, tying those conditions to the 2013 murder of her mother, Martha Batchelor.² Martha Batchelor, 53, was found dead in her San Antonio apartment in July 2013 in what investigators described as a sexually motivated homicide. Bradford Hudson was linked to the crime through DNA in 2019 and charged with capital murder, but the charge was dismissed in March 2020 for “further investigation,” and Hudson died at a San Antonio medical facility shortly after.¹⁰

At sentencing, the defense called Dr. Frank Chen, who ran a concierge treatment facility, in support of an “affluenza” argument that Batchelor had been shielded from consequences by wealthy parents. Stepmother Sharon Batchelor testified that Kendall’s father “did not see the big picture” and that Kendall was never disciplined or told “no.”⁷ The defense also raised questions about the collection of the post-crash blood sample.²

Verdict and Sentence

The jury of seven men and five women convicted Batchelor and returned the maximum: 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.⁷

The Appeal

Batchelor’s appeal to the Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo turned on a pretrial venue fight. Before trial, Martinez had moved to move the case out of Kendall County, arguing that coverage in the Boerne Star and San Antonio Current, along with a Facebook group called “Boerne Area Informed Citizens,” had tainted the jury pool. He estimated the group’s roughly 11,000 members represented 40% of potential jurors.¹¹ Judge Cohoon denied the motion, and the defense argued on appeal that the denial had prevented a fair trial.⁵

On December 11, 2024, the appellate court rejected the appeal and affirmed both the conviction and the 20-year sentence. Bob Lipo handled the case for the state at the appellate level, and the Kendall County District Attorney’s Office called the ruling “a testament to the court and prosecutors’ hard work during the trial.”¹ Batchelor is currently serving her sentence.¹²

The Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Separately from the criminal case, David Belter’s parents, John and Jeanette Belter, filed a wrongful death suit against Batchelor in Bexar County’s 45th District Court, seeking more than $1 million in damages for the loss of their son’s care, companionship, and society, along with “tremendous emotional pain, torment and suffering.” Martinez filed a general denial.⁶ The available record does not show a public resolution of that case.

The Batchelor Family Background

Kendall’s father, Ken Batchelor, opened Ken Batchelor Cadillac in San Antonio in 1980 and worked with the Sewell organization for 54 years. The dealership was renamed Sewell Cadillac in November 2024 following his retirement, and he died at home on June 25, 2025, at age 82. His obituary listed Kendall among his surviving children without reference to her legal situation.¹³ Coverage of his death noted the 2013 murder of his ex-wife Martha and his daughter’s criminal case as personal hardships in his life.¹²

David Belter, the man Kendall Batchelor killed, was 48 at the time of the crash. Born in Austin in 1973, he grew up in the San Antonio and Boerne area, graduated from Boerne High School in 1991, and worked at HEB in Bulverde for seven years. He was survived by his parents, his brother Kevin, and a nephew and niece.¹⁴

1
Boerne Star. Batchelor Conviction Upheld on Appeal
2
San Antonio Current. The Kendall Batchelor Trial: Class, Coverups and Consequences in the Texas Hill Country
3
MySanAntonio. Texas Woman Arrested in Hill Country Crash
4
San Antonio Express-News. Kendall Batchelor Boerne Manslaughter Appeal
5
San Antonio Current. San Antonio Socialite Kendall Batchelor’s Intoxicated Manslaughter Appeal Quashed in Court
6
Boerne Star. Parents of Victim File Civil Lawsuit
7
Boerne Star. Batchelor Hit With Maximum Sentence: 20 Years
8
Texas Legislature. S.B. 745 Analysis
9
Boerne Star. Batchelor Found Guilty in Drunk Driving Death
10
KSAT. Suspect in Gruesome Cold Case Murder Dies Months After Charge Was Dismissed
11
Boerne Star. Batchelor’s Attorneys Want Trial Moved
12
San Antonio Current. San Antonio Luxury Car Dealer Ken Batchelor Has Died
13
San Antonio Express-News. Ken Batchelor Obituary
14
Holt Funeral Home. David Belter Obituary