A couple of decades ago a group known as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) launched a campaign to strengthen drunk driving laws in California following the death of many youngsters in DUI crashes.
MADD was successful, but the current generation of politicians apparently have little respect for the lives of innocent people, and the laws and punishments advocated by MADD have been seriously diluted by a new crop of activist lawmakers.
What happens if you kill an innocent person while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol?
In two Lompoc cases it appears to be “not much,” other than some time in court, losing your license for a couple of years and paying fine. I am sure it’s the same all over the state.
Is this justice for the victim’s family? Would this sort of punishment prevent or encourage other similar unsafe acts?
In Lompoc, during the early evening of Aug. 12 a few years ago, a young man was enjoying some alcohol when he decided to take his off-road vehicle for a ride on city streets.
Not only did he take himself for a ride, he also took his toddler son with him.
We don’t know why he thought this was a good idea; maybe in his intoxicated state he thought the one-year-old could manage to hold on as he showed off his driving skill.
But the small child was somehow thrown off the vehicle and died because of the major injuries he suffered at the hands of his father. The father was arrested and charged by Lompoc Police with DUI causing great bodily injury and child abuse causing death.
Noozhawk reported that “The defendant had a blood-alcohol content of 0.11%, above the 0.08 legal limit.”
Then, without the judge having consideration for the victim, or the child’s surviving family members, Noozhawk reported: “Judge Raimundo Montes De Oca indicated that he would consider sentencing the defendant to supervised probation — 90 to 180 days on electronic monitoring” in recognition of his admission of guilt.
The judge took this action after the district attorney recommended an eight-year sentence. In this case the judge was providing a lesson to others who might think that driving drunk and killing people is allowable.
This young man received a sentence that’s equivalent to a “time out” you give your kids for not cleaning up their room.
Another DUI case involving the death of an innocent person that originated in Lompoc was recently adjudicated in Superior Court and produced a similar result. That case happened five years ago.
Noozhawk reported that a woman “led law enforcement officers on a pursuit ending with a Gaviota crash that caused a man’s death and injured another.”
pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, child abuse causing death and driving under the influence causing injury.
The driver “pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and reckless driving with a special allegation of personally inflicting great bodily injury.”
In addition to the vehicular manslaughter charge, Arevalo (the errant driver) also had faced a charge for felony evading an officer related to the incident that began in Lompoc and ended on the Gaviota Coast on Oct. 1, 2018.
As in many cases, the district attorney and the defendant’s attorney will make a deal in exchange for a guilty plea to avoid a jury trial. This case was no different.
Noozhawk reported that “Under the plea deal signed Dec. 19, both sides agreed Arevalo would not spend any time in state prison, and would face a maximum of five years’ probation, with terms and conditions decided by the judge during a sentencing hearing.”
So, once again the lesson is that if you’re reckless enough to drive under the influence of an intoxicating substance and you kill someone, even if it’s an innocent child, you’ll only get a slap on the wrist.
This is yet another example of how lawmakers have failed to protect innocent citizens from those who violate basic laws designed to protect the motoring public.
References:
2021 report: https://www.noozhawk.com/article/lompoc_man_changes_plea_for_dui_crash_that_killed_1_year_old_son
2024 report:
Lompoc Woman Changes Plea for Fatal Crash Involving 2 Santa Barbara Men | Local News | Noozhawk