Posted on 02/24/2005 2:00:29 PM PST by WindOracle
CHULA VISTA – A 33-year-old man admitted in Superior Court yesterday that he ran down a Chula Vista woman who was out for her morning walk.
Daniel Antonio Orantes-Castro pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter in the Nov. 18 death of Akiko Koehler, 60. Judge Wesley R. Mason scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 23.
Prosecutor Terri Wyatt said no promises were made to Orantes-Castro in exchange for his guilty plea. She said the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.
Castro was driving a Ford F-150 pickup in a westbound lane of J Street around 8:30 a.m. when he crossed into the eastbound lane at Twin Oaks Avenue, drove up onto the sidewalk and struck Koehler before crashing into a fence, police said.
Koehler was thrown about 10 feet onto the front lawn of a nearby home, police said.
"It was her practice to walk every morning," Wyatt said. "She used to like to go to Henry's Market."
A witness who lived across the street and was familiar with Koehler's routine reported seeing a black truck cross the road, Wyatt said. When the truck passed from her range of vision, the witness heard the truck bump over the curb, Wyatt said.
The witness ran out her front door to look for Koehler, who was on the ground, Wyatt said.
Neighbors and passers-by detained Orantes-Castro and a passenger when they tried to walk away, police said.
The prosecutor said blood tests showed that Castro was under the influence of methamphetamine.
Castro, from Mexico, was in the United States illegally at the time of the crash, Wyatt said. He had been deported last year and banned from re-entering the United States for five years but returned anyway, Wyatt said.
Castro is being held in jail without bail.
You took the words right outta my mouth.
Maximum penalty of only 10 years? All funded by citizen taxpayers, no less. Thank you, amnesty advocates.
Sad, angry, DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN ping. I will BET that certain folk will avoid THIS thread....
Just performing the vehicular homicides that average Americans won't do...
he returned when he wasn't supposed to???.....amazing, I thought all our good amnesty friends said these people are fulfilling a vital role......(sarcasm of course)
Don't even get me going....
I've driven in Mexico on a number of occasions: from Laredo to Tampico and back and from Acapulco to Mexico City. It's scary. They pass blind around curves. They drive at night without headlights. In Mexico City, everyone is oblivious to the lane designations.
Now, in addition to bringing their job skills, they're bringing their driving skills.
Multicultural response: Wave them on in, retrofit your vehicle with tank siding or surround your car with tires to absorb collisions, double every type of insurance you can, put a Blessed Virgin figurine on your dashboard and a hula dancer in the rear window, and pray hard.
Sane response: Close the borders and start deporting.
10 years in not enough.
And thank goodness, when he gets that license, he will go out and get mandatory liability insurance, because...well, that the law!
funny how the "sane response" is the ONLY one the gov't has not tried yet......I'm sure they will get around.
10 years is not enough.
Of course they will. Its no fun accusing someone of bigotry for pointing out this kind of thing is happening with increasing frequency on a thread not directly related to such a news item.
They'll wait until the cisrcumstances are a little more murky before slinging their rhetorical dung.
Ahem...make that SUBSIDIZED mandatory insurance, paid for by you and me.
Read later.
"10 years is not enough"
And one day is too much, we all know who foots that bill. There's only one answer and that is it never should have happened in the first place. Not only can they not catch the recent illegals, they can't even catch the repeat offenders. So sad what America has become.
Well, whaddya say we give 'em a chance to show up and be heard? I'd love to hear what they have to say...
"Ahem...make that SUBSIDIZED mandatory insurance, paid for by you and me"
Ain't that the truth!!
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