Rancho Cucamonga Driver Charged with Vehicular Manslaughter & DUI Causing Injury
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Yvonne Sinclair was charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing injury by the Rancho Cucamonga division of the San Bernardino County District Attorney. Sinclair was released on $250,000 bail.
The incident has sparked a great deal of attention in the Rancho Cucamonga area for its irony: Three years earlier, Sinclair’s boyfriend was killed by a driver who apparently was DUI. In the current incident, Sinclair is accused of crashing her new Hummer, allegedly while she was DUI, into Ontario residents Kara Rosa Adella Maes and Sergio Lopez, killing both.
Under California DUI law, an intoxicated person who causes an accident in which a third party is injured or killed can be charged with “DUI with Injury” under California Vehicle Code 23153. A DUI with injury charge carries penalties up to three years in prison, plus an additional three years in enhancements. DUI with injury also counts as a strike under California’s There Strikes law.
Moreover, under California’s DUI law, if the driver exhibits gross negligence, she can be charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Under Penal Code Section 192, a person convicted of this offense faces up to 10 years state prison.
But California law requires the prosecutor to prove two things to establish either DUI with injury or vehicular manslaughter involving alcohol. First, the DUI prosecutor must prove that the driver was impaired enough to be under the influence (or had a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher at the time of the accident).
Second, the DUI prosecutor must prove that the suspected drunk driver was at fault and that the alcohol impairment caused the accident.
Although news of an incident such as this Rancho Cucamonga DUI tragedy often sparks outrage, it is important to wait until all the evidence is evaluated before jumping to the conclusion of someone’s guilt.
There’s no denying that drunk drivers cause accidents and kill innocent people. They should be prosecuted and punished accordingly.
However, just because someone had been drinking, and is involved in an accident, and someone is killed, does not automatically make the person guilty of “DUI with injury” or “vehicular manslaughter” under California DUI law.
The person may have been within the legal limit at the time of driving. And the accident may have been due to causes other than the alcohol: road conditions, weather conditions, the fault of third parties, or other external circumstances.
