A Santa Maria man has been charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor in connection with a fatal head-on crash Christmas morning on Highway 166, but a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge denied his request to be released from jail.
Bladimir Agustin Chavez, 27, has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a blood alcohol content above 0.08%.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge for being an unlicensed driver along with special allegations or sentencing enhancements, including for causing great bodily injury.
The crash occurred at approximately 1:30 a.m. Christmas Day on Highway 166 east of Simas Road between Santa Maria and Guadalupe.
Chavez was driving east on Highway 166 in a Toyota Camry at an unknown speed when he veered over the double yellow lines, according to the California Highway Patrol.
His Toyota slammed head-on into a westbound Infinity sedan, killing the driver, who was pronounced dead the scene.
Gregorio Dominguez, 65, of Guadalupe was named Wednesday by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau as the man killed in the crash.
Criminal charges against Chavez were filed Wednesday in Superior Court in Santa Maria.
Law enforcement sources list his name as Vladimir Agustin Chavez, but the defendant confirmed his first name as Bladimir.
During a Wednesday afternoon arraignment hearing, Chavez, who attended the hearing remotely from jail, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He sought to be released from jail, with defense attorney Maria Martino saying Chavez didn’t have any prior criminal history and would wear an electronic monitoring device.
Deputy District Attorney Tyson McCoy objected to the release.
“In this case, the defendant engaged in extremely dangerous conduct,” McCoy said.
Along with driving on the wrong side of the road, Chavez didn’t have a license plus had 11 empty Modelo beer bottles in the vehicle, McCoy said.
A preliminary screening device determined Chavez’s blood alcohol content at 0.14% about 30 minutes after emergency personnel responded to the crash, McCoy said.
He added that means the defendant’s BAC likely was near 0.15% at the time of the crash, making it nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08% for driving.
Judge Kristy Imel set bail at $250,000, above the schedule of $130,000 for the charges.
“That’s based on public safety,” Imel said, ticking off the high BAC, bad driving, lack of a license and other factors that she contended make him a grave public danger to others.
If Chavez does post bail, the judge ordered him not to drive, to refrain from alcohol and any bars or liquor stores, and to surrender his passport.
The case is scheduled to return Tuesday to Department 6, when the judge and attorneys may confirm the date for the preliminary hearing, tentatively set for next Wednesday.