A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge on Monday set bail at $2 million for a Santa Maria man facing double murder charges stemming from a fatal crash last month blamed on drunken driving and speeding.
A clean-shaven Cameron Oliver, 25, made a brief court appearance Monday, pleading not guilty before Judge James Voysey.
With Oliver sitting nearby, defense attorney Addison Steele said he would not oppose the bail amount — his client has been held without bail — but reserved the right to argue against it in the future.
Oliver was driving a vehicle at high speed with three passengers on Highway 135 north of Lakeview Road when it veered off the roadway, crashed through a fence, struck a concrete bench, and overturned onto Orcutt Road, the California Highway Patrol said.
Fatally injured in the Feb. 6 crash were Leann Stauffer and Tricia Jensen, both 37 and from Santa Maria.
A third passenger, Brian Freeborn, 38, of Santa Maria, also was injured.
Oliver has been charged with two counts of murder and felony driving with a blood alcohol content exceeding .08 percent causing bodily injury to a third passenger, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Oliver also faces several special allegations that he had a blood alcohol content above .15 percent, drove at least 30 mph above the speed limit, and has been convicted of a prior DUI offense.
According to the criminal complaint, Oliver allegedly had a blood-alcohol content that exceeded .19 percent, and was driving more than 125 mph at the time of the crash.
The judge ordered the attorneys and defendant to return April 17 for a preliminary hearing setting, but the attorneys declined Voysey’s offer to designate future dates.
Steele said he had been told he would receive “voluminous discovery” and wanted to wait, which Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Savrnoch said was acceptable to her.
Oliver has a prior DUI conviction stemming from a December 2013 arrest in San Diego County and was on probation at the time of the crash for a domestic-violence case in Santa Barbara County.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.