Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Orange County Man Receives 15 Year Sentence for Killing Bicyclist

Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned that a Garden Grove man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing a bicyclist for a drunk driving crash that occurred in 2008.

The man already had a DUI conviction from 2002 and had attended nine months of alcohol awareness crashes. In October 2008, the individual had taken two different types of painkillers, an anti-anxiety drug, a muscle relaxant and alcohol before he went out one evening to run some errands. He was on his way home when his truck ran over a curb and hit and killed a 45 year old mother bicycling with her son. His blood-alcohol level was measured at .09 over an hour after the crash. The legal limit in California is .08. His alcohol level at the time of his 2002 DUI was 0.25.

The driver was convicted of second-degree murder after the District Attorney argued that he showed a “conscious disregard for life” when he killed the bicyclist. The judge ruled before trial that the jury would not be allowed to consider a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. The judge found that he was not completely remorseful and was an alcoholic with drug issues.

The driver will be eligible for parole in about 13 years because he has already served almost two years in prison before the conviction. His lawyer, who is one of the better known Orange County DUI Lawyers in this area, are planning an appeal.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at 12:32 pm and is filed under DUI advice, DUI News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.