Judge rules civil settlement in fatal 2023 Northshore crash inadmissible in upcoming trial

Randy Vega in court on May 4, 2026, less the a month from his scheduled trial date.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The suspect charged with vehicular homicide in the death of a mom and her baby on Thanksgiving weekend in 2023 was back in court Monday morning.

Randy Vega is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence among other charges in that crash.

That crash, according to evidence presented in a preliminary hearing, occurred when Vega collided with Dr. Patrick McGinty, and crashed into a gift shop on Frazier Avenue.

Dr. McGinty was not charged in this incident.

Ana Posso Rodriguez and her one year old son Jonathan Delvia were killed when they were struck.

Today, Vega’s defense argued that they should be allowed to argue that a civil settlement reached between the doctor and victim’s family should be admissible in the upcoming trial, saying that they want to prove Vega was not solely at fault for the crash.

Public defender Andrea Hayduck argued, “The jury decides what weight to give that or not to give that. The state can certainly argue whether that should or should not be given… The fact that there was a settlement that took place that he agreed to does in fact give us some reasonable doubt we should get to argue to the jury.”

Judge Boyd Patterson ruled that the settlement cannot be used as evidence.

The trial is set to begin on June 2nd.