DUI SENTENCE OVERTURNED 15 YEARS SOUGHT IN MANSLAUGHTER.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer A state appeals court struck down a judge's decision to sentence a man with seven drunk driving convictions to 10 years in state prison for a deadly crash in Castaic, according to a ruling made public Tuesday. The ruling gives prosecutors a second chance to prove that Johnny Castro should serve 15 years to life behind bars for the 1998 traffic death of Mahdood Koosh, a 22-year-old NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. engineer. ``We believe it is a proper ruling,'' said Sandi Gibbons Famous people named Gibbons include:
Castro's attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. In an unpublished opinion dated March 7, justices Orville A. Armstrong, Paul Turner and Margaret Grignon from the state's Second District Court of Appeal struck down the judgment of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Meredith C. Taylor in the sentencing. A jury convicted Castro of one count of vehicular manslaughter vehicular manslaughter n. the crime of causing the death of a human being due to illegal driving of an automobile, including gross negligence, drunk driving, reckless driving, or speeding. while intoxicated in·tox·i·cate v. in·tox·i·cat·ed, in·tox·i·cat·ing, in·tox·i·cates v.tr. 1. To stupefy or excite by the action of a chemical substance such as alcohol. 2. in the January 1998 crash on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. . In January 2000, the trial court sentenced Castro to 10 years for the manslaughter conviction. Castro appealed the judgment of conviction, contending that the trial court erred in refusing to conduct a full hearing to determine whether the jury had reached a compromise verdict compromise verdict n. a decision made by a jury in which the jurors split the difference between the high amount of damages which one group of jurors feel is justified and the low amount other jurors favor. and in denying his motion for a new trial motion for a new trial n. a request made by the loser for the case to be tried again on the basis that there were significant legal errors in the way the trial was conducted and/or the jury or the judge sitting without a jury obviously came to an incorrect result. based on juror juror n. any person who actually serves on a jury. Lists of potential jurors are chosen from various sources such as registered voters, automobile registration or telephone directories. misconduct. He also contended that the trial court erred in excluding the out-of-court statement of a witness. Prosecutors also appealed the conviction, contending that the trial court was required to sentence Castro to a term of 15 years to life in prison under a 2-year-old statute, ``Courtney's Law.'' The law, named for a 15-year-old girl killed by a drink driver, allows judges to sentence drunk drivers with multiple convictions to 10 years to life in prison if the driver causes a death. The law also allows for an additional five years in prison for drunk drivers who leave or try to leave a crash scene. The District Attorney's Office will assign a deputy district attorney to prosecute Castro on prior convictions at a hearing to be scheduled in San Fernando Superior Court next month, Gibbons said. Castro, who was driving a Nissan ZX south at high speeds, killed Koosh on Jan. 11, 1998, in a crash on the Golden State Freeway, just south of Castaic. An off-duty officer who witnessed the crash said that after the incident, Castro ran a short distance and then returned to his car. The witness said Castro told him his wife was driving the car, but he refused to identify her. Police arrived and took Castro to a hospital, where officials recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.17 percent. |
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