LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tears streamed down 19-year-old Ava Jones' face as she told a jury that while she was once on scholarship to play basketball for Iowa, she can no longer shoot a basketball or even walk very far after a Louisville man accused of being high on fentanyl crashed into her family in 2022.

The murder trial for Michael Hurley continued for a fourth day Thursday with Jones testifying about the fallout from the wreck in which her family was on a downtown Louisville sidewalk before Hurley plowed through them without braking.

Trey Jones, 42, died shortly after being hit. His wife, Amy, and daughter, Ava, were seriously hurt and were in town for weeks in rehab in Louisville. Another child was slightly injured. The family, from Kansas, was in Louisville for a basketball tournament Ava was playing in.

Jones was offered scholarships in three sports "and was very good at them" but now says "it takes me about 20 second to write my name." Once a valedictorian, her memory is so bad that she does not recollect what was said in her classes at Iowa minutes after they have ended.

This has affected her relationship with other students as well.

"My recollection of what they said affects my ability to have friends," Jones testified, also noting she is in treatment for depression. She does not remember the wreck or even much of her stay in the hospital. It took her two years to relearn how to speak properly. She has double vision and multiple surgeries have left her in constant pain.

Ava Jones and her parents

Ava Jones and her parents pose with a University of Iowa flag after she committed to play basketball for the Hawkeyes.

"I have a lot less friends," said Jones, who is a sophomore. "I am a lot more sad." 

Her potential to hold down a job is "not good," she said. "You have to be able to remember what you are doing, and I can't remember."

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Scott Drabestadt told jurors earlier this week that Hurley had "nothing but selfishness and wanton disregard for the safety of others" when he drove his vehicle with blood levels showing he had five times above what is considered a lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.

Hurley didn't stop for 100 feet after he hit the Jones family with his car at 2nd and Market streets on July 5, 2022.

Tears streamed down 19-year-old Ava Jones’ face as she told a jury that while she was once on scholarship to play basketball for Iowa, she can no longer shoot a basketball or even walk very far after a Louisville man accused of being high on fentanyl crashed into her family in 2022.

"He didn't even begin to brake until well after he plowed into the Jones family," Drabestadt said in his opening statements, shortly after a jury was chosen. "That's how wasted and out of his mind he was."

But Hurley's attorney, Jordan Potts, has said that while "there is no denying" what happened was a "tragedy," it was an accident as Hurley was tired from working all day and "not as intoxicated" as prosecutors say.

Potts said there is clearly a problem with the blood results as there is no way Hurley could have that much fentanyl in his system and still talk to police officers at the scene and do as well as he did in the field sobriety test.

"The blood (test) doesn't make sense," Potts told jurors.

A police officer testified that Hurley failed the field sobriety test. After he was arrested, Hurley told police he would be fired from his job if he missed work the next day, according to body camera footage.

MICHAEL HURLEY - PRETRIAL HEARING 4-27-2023 (1).jpeg

Michael Hurley appears in court for a pre-trial hearing. He is charged with murder in connection with driving his car under the influence and hitting a family of four visiting downtown Louisville from Kansas. WDRB Image. April 27, 2023

Potts said Hurley had taken hydrocodone for pain from a dental procedure but the wreck was due to his client getting up at 3:30 a.m. for work that day.

"This was someone who was tired," Potts told jurors. "At no point did Mr. Hurley ever wish for anything like this to happen."

Hurley is charged with murder, multiple counts of assault and driving under the influence. He is facing up to 70 years in prison. The trial, which started Monday, is expected to last at least through this week.

Hurley said he was driving to inquire about a job when he realized he was too late and tried to quickly make a turn "but went straight, instead," veering off the road and running over the family, according to police body camera footage played in court.

While prosecutors said Hurley nodded off at the scene of the wreck, Hurley claimed he was praying.

Some people in the courtroom gasped Tuesday when a surveillance video of the wreck was played for the jury. Police body camera footage showed the aftermath of the wreck, with the family bloodied and spread out while people tried to help them.

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