She'll be an old woman when she gets out.
Posted on 02/29/2020 7:45:18 AM PST by L.A.Justice
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A 29-year-old San Clemente woman was sentenced Thursday to 51 years to life in prison for an alcohol-fueled crash in Huntington Beach that killed two Las Vegas teenagers and an 18-year-old man on spring break.
Bani Marcela Duarte was convicted Oct. 1 of three counts of second- degree murder and a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, for causing the March 29, 2018, pre-dawn crash.
Killed in the crash were the other driver, 17-year-old Brooke Hawley, and passengers 18-year-old Dylan Mack and 17-year-old Albert Rossi.
A fourth high school classmate, Alexis Vargas, managed to escape the burning Toyota Camry, but sustained second-degree burns to one arm.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman told Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Paer during the sentencing hearing that he recently read a "beyond gut-wrenching" note from the defendant's daughter saying "she's being a good girl" so her mother can return home.
"I don't envy this court at this moment," Feldman said, noting the defendant got "into her own car with her own children's car seats visible to her" before she turned the key after a night of drinking.
Feldman said during Duarte's trial that the defendant had gone out drinking in several bars and clubs throughout Orange County, ending up at Baja Sharkeez in Newport Beach, where "she consumed an unfathomable amount of alcohol."
When she left the bar, Duarte was driving north, but was so drunk she thought she was driving south toward home, Feldman said. Three men in a Jeep spotted her erratic driving, and one of them called 911, he said.
While making a left turn onto Pacific Coast Highway "she swung so wide she struck the curb with the passenger side of her car," Feldman said.
Duarte got out of the Hyundai she was driving to "inspect the damage," and then got back into the car and kept driving, he said.
"She ignored that warning about her ability to drive," Feldman said.
The three witnesses said she appeared to be "beyond intoxicated," and that she was "burping, staggering," he said. They were still on the line with a 911 dispatcher when the Hyundai slammed into the rear of a Toyota Camry that was stopped at a red light at Magnolia Street about 1 a.m., Feldman said.
The Camry burst into flames from the impact.
Feldman said a post-crash blood test showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.28%. The legal limit is 0.08%.
During Thursday's sentencing hearing, Hawley's mother, Rhonda, told Paer, "We lost such a bright and beautiful girl, and in the process we all lost ourselves."
Brooke Hawley was the designated driver for her friends the night of the crash, according to her family. She was an honors student in her junior year and was being scouted by soccer coaches for college, her parents said.
The teen's father, Aaron Hawley, said he is haunted by how his daughter died.
"I never got to say goodbye to my daughter," he said. "Her body was horrifically burned."
Rossi's father, also named Albert, told Paer he was a Vietnam veteran, and he compared his son's death to his combat experience.
"Vietnam was a living hell, but it was a walk in the park compared to this," the elder Rossi said, adding he suffered a heart attack after his son's death.
"My son was an avid athlete," Rossi said. "He was an avid ocean swimmer. He was a great basketball player and a wonderful football player."
Rossi's sister, Allie, said she helped raise her brother because their mother died when Albert was only 5.
"My brother loved the beach," she said, explaining how for the past four years he would go on road trips to the Pacific Ocean.
"Anything near the ocean he loved."
She said her brother "lit up every room he walked into. ... He was good at everything he did."
It turns out he changed his plea to guilty...got 2 years...and served 14 months.
My niece was driving...the autopsy showed she was sober as a judge (her boyfriend had been drinking...she was always the "designated driver").
She'll be an old woman when she gets out.
Agreed.
This excerpt is from an Orange County Register article - but another article said she was arrested at this scene but released. HB police discovered that she had plans to leave the country and found her and arrested her in Downey, CA. Good police work but they should have taken her in immediately! Good grief - anyone old enough to get a drivers license and drink shouldn’t need a warning about the risks involved to doing both at the same time.
“”A body-worn camera on a Huntington Beach officer captured a heavily-inebriated, seemingly confused and at-times argumentative Duarte shortly after the crash. The footage, which was shown during the trial, included Duarte repeatedly requesting a ride home from officers, asking “Did somebody just die? What is going on?” and expressing frustration that the crash occurred on one of the few occasions she was able to spend a night out away from her four children.
Duarte had previously been arrested for driving under the influence in San Clemente and had lost her license for her year. But she had not been given a formal warning, known as a Watson advisement, that if she again drank and drove and killed someone she could be charged with murder.
Such warnings are routinely cited by prosecutors in cases where repeat DUI drivers are charged with second-degree murder rather than a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. Duarte’s attorney, Justin Glenn, told jurors that since she hadn’t previously received that warning, there wasn’t enough evidence to prove she knew that driving under the influence was dangerous to human life, and that she decided to do it anyway.””
“”They’re call Dram Laws and all 50 states have them.””
I thought that was true but didn’t post it because I wasn’t 100% sure. Thanks..
See Post #21.
And as for your comment about gun manufacturers it don't take a rocket scientist to know that serving booze to someone who's visibly drunk is a thousand light years different than making a gun that winds up being used in a crime.OTOH,there are situations in which one could reasonably charged with proving a firearm to a particular person...and situations where one could be sued civilly for doing so.
But not the manufacturer itself.
But I admit that it must be acknowledged that there are more than a few people in DC...and state capitals...that wouldn't be mistaken for rocket scientists (or decent,logical,respectable individuals).
an illegal would have been given the usual treatment..he couldn’t read Ingles, he was drinking only because his kids were cages at the border, and Trump hates him....
“”But investigators say they found evidence that she was intending to leave the country to avoid prosecution. The Orange County U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and the Orange County District Attorney’s office assisted the HBPD in the search.
On April 27, 2018, she was rearrested in Downey by Huntington Beach police on murder and felony drunk driving charges. Duarte was booked into the Huntington Beach Jail.””
https://orangecountytribune.com/2018/08/22/pre-trial-hearing-in-hb-triple-death-crash/
I wouldn’t be so sure that she wasn’t an illegal - name and appearance might support that. She lived in San Clemente and that COULD mean that’s as far as she got after crossing the border.....HA!
My pleasure.
Here in Illinois everyone who serves alcohol is required to have annual training called BASSET. It explicitly spells out how both the establishment and the server can be held both civilly and criminally liable for over serving patrons.
A bit of research on my part has taught that California laws limit third party liability in these cases.
That figures.
L
It’s a good thing this didn’t happen in San Francisco. She would have got probation.
I don’t think there was any question whether she was of age or not.
“Imagine the lawsuits...”
Virtually every liability policy in the US (commercial and personal) covers Host Liquor Liability, so it’s nothing to worry about (unless you are selling liquor). For bars, it’s Liquor Liability__ain’t cheap.
Never had one either - don’t drink at all and haven’t for over 20 years. But there was a time in my younger days I should have and by the grace of God I didn’t - scared me straight it did.
Obviously Duarte wasn't an illegal immigrant or she would have been out on the street with an apology from the judge and jury..........if it ever even made it to a jury.
killed two Las Vegas teenagers and an 18-year-old man
I've spent a fair amount of time in bars and by and large, bartenders try to do the right thing. No bartender wants to play a hand in a tragedy like this. I have seen people shut off at the bar, including people I was with. I've seen a bartender, when she knew her intoxicated patron was planning to drive home, call a taxi and tell the patron the police will be the next call if they still insist on driving home. But you can't catch them all. Experienced drinkers can hide signs of intoxication pretty well. Further, especially with the ladies, the men are usually buying the drinks for them and taking the drinks back to a table. How can bartenders be expected to police that?
Also, this opens the door for criminalizing a lot of other nonsense. For instance, if a house guest had too much to drink and got into a fatal DUI on the way home, you could go to jail and lose your house. I still remember a party at my brother's house where some teenagers liberated booze from the liquor cabinet and got smashed down in the basement. One of them had driven to the party in his parent's car and had already headed out with a carload of kids before we realized what was going on. Fortunately there was no accident but doesn't seem right that my brother should be charged as an accessory for that.
I prefer to stick with personal responsibility for one's own actions.
Apparently what the meant was two teenage minors and an 18 year old. Editing isn’t what it used to be.
It's pretty sickening that we have so many illegals that the betting odds aren't bad she is one.
If I was a normal & responsible American who was hispanic, the mass influx of illegals committing crimes and giving people reason to assume most hispanics are illegal criminals would infuriate me.
“”If I was a normal & responsible American who was hispanic, the mass influx of illegals committing crimes and giving people reason to assume most hispanics are illegal criminals would infuriate me.””
I think that has been reported to be true - anyone born here with Hispanic ancestry or legally here resents that so many can’t manage to stay out of trouble...giving everyone a bad name. It’s probably true of any ethnic group.
Really regarding that woman in the thread, what US born citizen would think of leaving for another country to avoid prosecution if she hadn’t already come here from another country - legally or not?
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