The start of Cinthya Garcia-Cisneros' trial Thursday highlighted the questions jurors will likely consider after they've heard the evidence.

Garcia-Cisneros, 19, is accused of felony hit and run in the Forest Grove crash that killed two young stepsisters, Anna Dieter-Eckerdt, 6, and Abigail Robinson, 11.

Both sides agree that the teen drove through a large leaf pile, Oct. 20, where the two girls had been playing. Garcia-Cisneros and her passengers -- her boyfriend and brother -- felt a bump as the Nissan Pathfinder ran over the heap. The prosecution and defense agree that Garcia-Cisneros learned not long after she arrived home, just around the block, that she may have struck two children.

Both sides also agree that Garcia-Cisneros did not identify herself as the driver in that fatal crash until police tracked her down and questioned her the next day.

In opening statements Thursday, the two sides outlined their cases for a Washington County jury and hinted at the questions jurors will face when they deliberate, such as: What are the responsibilities of a driver involved in a crash that injures or kills someone? And what happens to that responsibility if the driver learns of the crash after the fact?

Bracken McKey, a senior deputy district attorney, said that after Garcia-Cisneros arrived home, her brother rode his bicycle past the leaf pile and saw the girls lying injured on Main Street. Within minutes, McKey said, the boy told Garcia-Cisneros that she had hit two children.

Oregon law requires a driver involved in a crash to stop, render aid and exchange information. McKey told jurors that Garcia-Cisneros, upon learning of the crash, ignored her duty to provide information. She and her boyfriend then moved the vehicle to the neighboring town of Cornelius, went out for ice cream and took the Pathfinder through a car wash the next day.

Defense attorney Ethan Levi told jurors his client had no idea two children might be lying in that large pile of leaves, which had been raked up for a community leaf pick-up. When she drove through them, he said, she suspected she might have hit a rock.

“Cinthya never knew she was in an accident, when she was in accident,” he said.

Her brother broke the news, Levi said, and Garcia-Cisneros didn’t believe him. But the boy wasn’t joking.

“She became panicked,” Levi said. “She became a little hysterical, she began hyperventilating.”

Garcia-Cisneros did not report her involvement, he said, because she had not accepted it. Feeling upset and shocked, she remained in denial, Levi said. At the end of his case, Levi said, he would ask jurors to find her not guilty.

The trial resumes Tuesday.

Check back here for more information on Garcia-Cisnernos’ first day of trial.

-- Emily E. Smith