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Maria Felix Prado, 48, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced on Nov. 8 to 10 days in jail, 80 hours of work service, three years' probation, standard fines and restitution to the estate of Sandra K. Thomas, according to Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
Prado's attorney, Jesse Chrisp of Lower Lake, said Prado had the option of doing alternate work service rather than jail time, and was almost done with her sentence. He said he had no other comment on the case.
Thomas, of Noblesville, Ind., died last April 9 when the vehicle she was riding in was hit by a Dodge Caravan driven by Prado, who had drifted off of Highway 20 outside of Nice and overcorrected, crossing into the oncoming lane of traffic, as Lake County News has reported.
Thomas and her husband, James, had traveled to Ukiah last spring to visit their daughter, Sarah Noguera. The collision occurred as Noguera, her husband and two small children were driving the Thomases to the airport in Sacramento.
The California Highway Patrol's investigation concluded that Prado made an “unsafe turning movement” and went off the highway at 55 miles per hour before losing control, according to court documents.
Prado told the CHP at the scene that she was on the way to a doctor's appointment in Upper Lake and that she couldn't remember what happened because it took place so fast.
However, several days later she contacted a CHP officer to say another car had been tailgating her. The other parties involved did not corroborate that statement, according to the investigation documents.
Noguera, who along with her father was seriously injured in the crash, told investigators she looked over in Prado's direction, saw dust and heard the Caravan's motor revving before it “suddenly cut across the road and hit them.”
Prado, who had a previous conviction for use of a cell phone while driving, wasn't using her phone at the time of the crash, based on cell phone records, the CHP investigation indicated.
The CHP found no mechanical issues with Prado's vehicle, and Langan said she was charged with a single count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
Langan said he checked with the court early on in the case, with the court indicating that Prado would have received a maximum of 20 days in jail if convicted since she had no real prior record.
While he believed he could have prevailed at trial, Langan said the time and expense to get 10 days more was not an effective use of taxpayer dollars.
During the course of the proceedings, court records noted that Prado missed an Aug. 16 hearing and Judge Andrew Blum issued a $50,000 bench warrant for her, which was recalled in October. However, she missed a second court appearance on Oct. 25 and Blum issued a second, no-bail bench warrant, which he recalled at her Nov. 8 sentencing.
Langan said the alternative work program “technically is jail time,” and it's up to the Lake County Sheriff's Office whether or not it will allow individuals to use it. In this case, the agency verified with Langan and the court that a misdemeanor manslaughter sentence would qualify.
Prado had six weeks following the sentencing to arrange the alternative work service, said Langan. “If she doesn't complete it, it converts to a jail sentence.”
Court documents indicated that Prado was required by Dec. 13 to show proof of enrollment in the program, and she must return to court on June 7 with written proof of completion.
Langan noted that a civil case has been filed as a result of the crash. Details of that case – which did not show up in a search of Lake County court records – were not immediately available.
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SACRAMENTO – Two decades after he left the governor's office, Edmund “Jerry” Brown was once again taking the oath to lead the state, vowing to take on the state's troubled budget and get the state back on its feet.
Brown took the oath in a Monday ceremony at the State Capitol Building as state leaders past and present – among them outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as former Gov. Gray Davis – looked on.
He said the year ahead will “demand courage and sacrifice,” and will require that elected officials rise above partisan politics. “There is no other way forward. In this crisis, we simply have to learn to work together as Californians first, members of a political party second.”
He promised to be guided by three principles: Speak the truth, no new taxes unless the people vote for them and return decisions and authority to cities, counties and schools as much as possible.
The budget Brown said he will present next week will be painful but honest, he said.
“My goal is to achieve greater accountability and reduce the historic shifting of responsibility back and forth from one level of government to another,” he said. “The plan represents my best understanding of our real dilemmas and possibilities. It is a tough budget for tough times.”
Recalling his family's own pioneer history, Brown said California's people have not lost their pioneering spirit or their capacity to meet life’s challenges.
“Even in the midst of this recession, Californians this year will produce almost $2 trillion of new wealth as measured by our state’s domestic product,” he said.
“The innovations of Silicon Valley, the original thinking coming out of our colleges and universities, the skill of our farmers, the creative imagination of Hollywood, the Internet and the grit and determination of small businesses everywhere – all give hope for an even more abundant future,” Brown said. “And so do our teachers, our nurses, our firefighters, our police and correctional officers, our engineers, and all manner of public servants who faithfully carry out our common undertakings.”
In the coming year the state will confront many problems – education, crime, budgets, water – but, offering perspective, Brown said, “Many of these issues have confronted California one way or another for decades, certainly since the time of Governor Earl Warren.”
He concluded, “California here I come, right back where I started from.”
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“I am deeply humbled by the trust you have placed in me and I will never forget it is you, the people of California, whom I serve,” Harris said.
The oath was administered by Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
The inauguration ceremony included an invocation by Bishop T. Larry Kirkland Sr. of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a performance by classical Indian dancer Vidya Sundaram.
Sgt. Gerald D'Arcy of the San Francisco Police Department sang the national anthem and the Presentation of Colors was given by the Department of Justice Color Guard and the Sacramento Area Firefighters.
Attorney General Harris stressed in her inaugural address that she will seek innovative new approaches in tackling the state's toughest problems.
“It is often said that a good prosecutor wins convictions. But a great prosecutor has convictions,” she said. “In the coming four years, and in the continuing work of the Attorney General's Office, we are going to do whatever it takes in the cause of protecting and defending the lives and livelihoods of all Californians, by moving beyond the status quo.
“To do this, we are going to need to get smart on crime – tougher and smarter – about making California the undisputed national leader in innovation in crime fighting,” Harris said.
As chief law enforcement officer for the state, Harris plans to focus on reducing recidivism and on reforming the state's revolving door prison system.
A major priority of her office will be to lead a renewed collaborative effort against transnational gangs and organized crime.
In her role representing the interests of the people of California, Harris is deeply committed to protecting consumers from mortgage fraud and other scams, as well as to preserving the state's natural resources.
Harris is the first woman, and the first African American and the first South Asian American, to hold the office of attorney general in the history of California.
She served two terms as district attorney in San Francisco. First elected in 2003, Harris drew on nearly 20 years of experience as a courtroom prosecutor to fight violent crime. Her office said that, during her tenure, the city increased conviction rates for serious and violent offenses, expanded services to victims of crime and their families, created new prosecution divisions focused on child assault, public integrity and environmental crimes, and launched effective programs to keep parolees from reoffending.
To combat one of San Francisco's biggest challenges, gun violence, she created a gun specialist team and implemented tough gun charging policies.
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John Bass, 50, was located Monday morning not far from Fort Bragg, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Smallcomb said the sheriff's office was contacted at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 by Bass' family, who said he and his brother went to the Jackson State Forest off of Highway 20 near Chamberlin Creek at around 1:30 p.m. and began picking mushrooms in several locations, but later became separated.
Over the next three days a multiagency effort was launched to find Bass, Smallcomb said.
Numerous Search and Rescue teams from Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, along with personnel from the California Department of Forestry, California Highway Patrol, California Emergency Services and various fire departments took part in the search, aided by Bass' family and friends, according to Smallcomb.
Smallcomb said that at one time more than 180 people were involved in the search effort.
At 9 a.m. Monday they found Bass in an area near the Two Log Logging Road. Smallcomb said Bass was verbally responsive, but he didn't have current information on his medical condition.
Smallcomb said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and its Search and Rescue Team thanked all of the agencies and citizens who assisted in the large search effort.
He said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office wanted to remind mushroom hunters to take safety precautions – as well as warm clothes, a flashlight, extra food and water – when visiting the county's forests.
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Jose Pepe Quintero, 38, was pronounced dead at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport following the collision, which occurred at 4:35 p.m. Sunday on Upper Lake Lucerne Road north of Highway 20, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Quintero's passenger, 41-year-old Upper Lake resident Rafael Cordell Blancas, was uninjured, the CHP said.
The CHP report, by Officer Nick Powell, explained that Quintero was driving northbound at an unknown rate of speed when his 2001 Chevrolet Camaro drifted to the left and hit a wooden fence.
Quintero's Camaro hit several fence posts and 2-inch by 6-inch cross members during the collision, with one of the cross members going through the driver's side windshield and striking Quintero in the face, Powell's report said.
A large piece of wood also was stuck in the front of the car below the passenger-side headlights, according to photographs of the crash.
Five CHP units, two Lake County Sheriff's units and Northshore Fire Protection District – with two engines, two medic units, a battalion chief and Chief Jim Robbins – responded, according to reports from the scene.
The CHP reported that Quintero was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence before he was picked up for transport by REACH air ambulance.
CHP reports indicated that Quintero originally was being flown out of county to medical care, but that he went into full arrest and so REACH was diverted to Sutter Lakeside, where several of Quintero's family members had gathered.
Quintero was pronounced dead just after 6 p.m., Powell reported.
Powell's report said Quintero was wearing his seat belt, but it was unknown if Blancas was wearing his.
Lake County News correspondent Gary McAuley contributed to this report.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – While parts of Lake County looked like a winter wonderland on New Year's Day, area roads and highways saw dangerous conditions for drivers.
The California Highway Patrol on Saturday had numerous reports of stranded vehicles or cars off roadways, snow and ice making it unsafe to travel.
Trouble spots included Highway 175 near Cobb, some parts of Highway 29 in the south county near Middletown and at the Glasgow Grade outside of Lower Lake, and Bottle Rock Road and Western Mine Road.
Late Saturday evening there was a report of a woman whose vehicle was stuck in the snow on Fairway Drive in the Clear Lake Riviera, the CHP reported.
The Hopland Grade was being cleared by a snow plow late Saturday night, according to a report received by Lake County News.
Meanwhile, readers from around the county shared their pictures of the county coated in white, from Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown, Lower Lake and Cobb, to Clearlake, Glenhaven, Clearlake Oaks and Kelseyville.
The National Weather Service reported Saturday night that another low pressure system was approaching the California coast and expected to move over the North Coast on Sunday.
Snow levels were expected to become heavy early Sunday morning at and above the 2,500 foot level, where 2 to 4 inches were expected, while 4 to 8 inches could fall above 3,00 feet, the National Weather Service said.
While snow showers over Lake County are expected to decrease Sunday morning, forecasters said snow is expected to continue over the Sierras through Sunday night.
The National Weather Service said rain is likely in Lake County on Sunday, with the weather clearing throughout the rest of the week.
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