Austin, Texas is no stranger to construction booms, but a tragedy nearly four years ago has cast a long shadow over the industry—and now, after years of waiting, a rare moment of corporate accountability has arrived. D Guerra Construction LLC, an Austin-based company, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in connection with the death of a 24-year-old worker who was buried alive during a trench collapse in October 2021. The plea, announced by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office on August 26, 2025, marks the first time in more than three decades that a corporation has acknowledged criminal responsibility for a worker’s death in Travis County, according to Texas Public Radio and NPR.
The victim, Juan José Galvan Batalla of Bastrop, Texas, was working with another employee to install a residential sewer line in a new subdivision on FM 1327 near Creedmoor, in southern Travis County. According to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the trench had already partially collapsed earlier that day. Both workers managed to escape the first time. However, prosecutors say the company sent them back in to finish the job. Hours later, the trench collapsed again, this time burying Galvan Batalla completely under soil and debris. He died a week later from traumatic asphyxia, while his coworker was partially buried and suffered serious injuries.
For Rosa Isela Batalla Morales, Juan’s mother, the pain of losing her son has been indescribable. "He was joyful. He was life. So, I lost a piece of my heart," Morales told CBS Austin. The guilty plea, she said, brings a measure of comfort. "It brought me peace because justice was done. I do not wish bad upon anyone, but there are laws that must be respected. We have to act humanely and take care of those who work for you." She emphasized the importance of workplace safety, urging other workers to look out for themselves: "That is my message to everyone. Take care of yourselves. If you do not feel protected, go home because the pain of a mother has no name and will never heal."
OSHA’s investigation was damning. The agency found that D Guerra Construction failed to implement required safety systems—specifically, the use of a trench box, a set of metal walls designed to keep trenches stable and prevent deadly cave-ins. Additionally, OSHA concluded that the company failed to train workers on the hazards of trench work. In 2022, OSHA fined the company nearly $140,000 and referred the case to local prosecutors for potential criminal prosecution.
On September 30, 2024, a Travis County grand jury indicted D Guerra Construction LLC and project superintendent Carlos Alejandro Guerrero on charges of criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. While the case against Guerrero is ongoing, the company accepted a plea deal in July 2025, agreeing to plead guilty to the lesser offense of Assault Causing Bodily Injury, a Class A misdemeanor.
The plea deal is not just about legal consequences—it’s about changing workplace culture. Under the agreement, D Guerra Construction must implement a suite of new safety measures. These include comprehensive OSHA safety training for all employees, specific training on trenching hazards, and the hiring of two new full-time safety employees. The company is also required to establish a process that allows workers to report safety concerns anonymously, without fear of retaliation. Perhaps most notably, an independent safety monitor, approved by the District Attorney’s Office, will oversee the company’s compliance for one year, reporting monthly to prosecutors. If the company meets all these pre-sentencing conditions, no fines will be assessed at sentencing. If not, the company waives its right to a jury and will be sentenced by the court.
District Attorney José Garza underscored the significance of the case. "At the end of the day, we simply cannot tolerate employers in Travis County who create such unsafe work conditions that people who work can become seriously injured or die," Garza told Texas Public Radio. He added, "This is the first time in over three decades that a corporation has acknowledged responsibility for a worker's death in Travis County. We are grateful to our team for negotiating a distinctive plea agreement accompanied by pre-sentencing conditions that may establish a precedent for holding corporations accountable."
The rarity of such prosecutions is striking. According to NPR and Texas Public Radio, an investigation found that between 2013 and 2023, at least 250 people died in trench collapses across the United States. Yet, only 11 employers were ever criminally charged when workers died in these preventable incidents. Most offenders received little more than a fine, probation, or a short stint in jail. In Travis County, this is the first corporate guilty plea for a worker’s death since the early 1990s.
Safety experts and advocates say the deaths are almost always preventable—if companies follow the rules. OSHA requires that all trenches deeper than five feet have protective systems like trench boxes in place. These simple precautions can mean the difference between life and death. A safety training video from OSHA demonstrates just how quickly a trench can cave in, leaving workers with almost no time to escape. "I think it happens more often than we might think. I think over the last 10 years, there have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 deaths in trench collapses," Garza told CBS Austin.
As part of the plea deal, D Guerra Construction must also admit to a legal document called the Factual Basis and Stipulation of Facts in Support of Plea, which lays out the agreed-upon facts of the case. The company's general counsel, Jimmy Pousson, told CBS Austin, "The company agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor offense and to facilitate certain conditions intended to promote worker safety—a fundamental objective the company values highly."
For the Batalla Morales family, the legal outcome is bittersweet. "Although nothing will bring him back, I think this will help many people who work in construction," Rosa Isela Batalla Morales told Texas Public Radio. "Construction companies should be more careful with their staff and not let them enter without protection just for the sake of fulfilling a contract." She added, "All I asked for was justice. I never asked for anything bad for anyone. I think I've had justice. It did comfort me a little that the company said 'yes, I'm guilty,' because they were guilty—for me—and now they're guilty before the law."
With a year of oversight and a slate of new safety requirements, the hope among prosecutors and advocates is that this case will set a new standard for how construction companies treat their workers in Travis County and beyond. As Garza put it, "What is really important to us, and what was really important to the family, is that we had processes in place to try to change the culture of this workplace." Only time will tell if this accountability leads to lasting change—but for now, the message is clear: worker safety is not optional, and the law is watching.
