Doctor's vehicular homicide charge dropped in DWI crash that killed 4-year-old girl

A former Santa Fe doctor who was accused of vehicular homicide following a fatal drunken driving crash on New Year's Eve pleaded no contest to a DWI charge and will spend a year on unsupervised probation.

When asked if she wanted to address the court, Deborah Aaron offered no apology and responded, "No, your honor," to state District Judge Michael Vigil.

Aaron, 56, had just accepted a plea agreement with the state that dropped a vehicular homicide charge in exchange for a no-contest plea to a misdemeanor DWI offense.

Karla Vasquez Rivera, whose 4-year-old daughter, Yuliana Reyes Vasquez, was killed in the crash, wept several feet behind Aaron.

Aaron was traveling south on St. Francis Drive in her Land Rover when it crashed into the passenger side of a minivan driven by Vasquez Rivera, who was turning north on St. Francis from Siringo Road. The impact killed Vasquez Rivera's daughter and severely injured the pregnant woman.

Aaron told police after the accident that she had consumed one glass of wine hours before driving and was on her way to the airport in Albuquerque to pick up a friend. A blood sample taken from Aaron the night of the crash was analyzed at the state crime lab and showed a blood alcohol content of 0.08, the level legally considered too intoxicated to drive in New Mexico. A blood sample taken from Karla Vasquez showed a BAC of 0.00.

However, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Couleur, eyewitness accounts provided conflicting information about which driver caused the accident, and police reconstructions of the event were inconclusive.

"Eyewitnesses say exactly opposite things about who had the green light and who had the red light," Couleur told the court.

Couleur concluded that the state could not definitively find that Aaron caused the accident and thus would not be able to prove the case to a jury.

"It's questionable if we could have enough probable cause to pursue the charge or if we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in court," Couleur said.

In pleading no contest to DWI, a lesser offense included in the vehicular homicide case, Aaron faced a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $ 500 fine. But she has already spent almost nine months on electronic monitoring — considered incarceration by the court — in waiting for the disposition of her case.

The penalty for vehicular homicide is up to six years in jail.

According to court records, Aaron has been living in Scottsdale, Ariz., with her mother since her arraignment. Court records show she has taken several approved trips to the East and West Coasts for family visits. Thursday, her electronic monitoring device was removed because she had already served more time than her sentence allowed.

Conditions of her year on probation include mandatory DWI school and 24 hours of community service, which Aaron will be allowed to complete in Arizona. She also will submit to mandatory drug and alcohol screenings.

Aaron was one of the first people to leave Judge Vigil's courtroom, followed by her defense attorney, Dan Cron. Both refused to comment to reporters.

Cron represented the defendant in another high-profile drinking-and-driving case that hinged on who caused the crash. In 2011, Scott Owens was acquitted of vehicular homicide in the 2009 deaths of four Santa Fe teens. The state decided to prosecute him for vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol.

Owens admitted to drinking before driving that night, but he was found not guilty in the deaths because the jury could not find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he caused the accident that killed the teens.

Couleur and District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco said the Owens case, also prosecuted by Couleur, did not factor into their decision not to push the Aaron case to trial.

"This case was handled on its own merits," Couleur said.

A wrongful death suit filed against Aaron on behalf of Vasquez Rivera is pending in state District Court. After the hearing, Vasquez Rivera left the courtroom through a side door with her infant child.

"This whole incident is tragic. A little girl was killed and we had no way to prove who caused the accident," Pacheco said.

Contact Nico Roesler at 986-3089 or nroesler@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter @nicoroesler.

Read More @ Source



Criminal Stories Here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Homicide victim found at vacant Everett house

Image
EVERETT -- Police on Wednesday were canvassing the View Ridge-Madison neighborhood in Everett after a man was found dead there the night before. A neighbor spotted the man on the ground outside a vacant house at 22 Madison St. He called 911 about 6:20 p.m. The man had obvious signs of trauma to his torso, police said. He looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s. The Everett Major Crimes Unit is investigating the death as a homicide, Lt. Robert Goetz said. Detectives declined to say more about how they believe the man may have died. There are no identified suspects or motives. Detectives received a search warrant around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday and collected evidence at the scene. They returned Wednesday afternoon to look for clues in the daylight, Goetz said. The victim's identity had not been determined as of late Wednesday afternoon. The body was turned over to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office. Anyone with information is asked to call 425-257-8450. Rikki King: 425-
Keep reading

Manslaughter charges possible in boy's death

Image
Published: Thursday, August 23, 2012, 5:55 p.m. MONROE -- Detectives believe a 7-year-old Monroe boy's parents should face second-degree manslaughter charges in connection with his January overdose death. Monroe police this week wrapped up their probe into the boy's Jan. 30 death and forwarded the case to prosecutors to decide if his parents should face criminal charges. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul likely will begin reviewing the case in the coming days. She doesn't expect to make a charging decision in the near future, however. "It's quite an extensive investigation, and I want to review it thoroughly before I make any decision," she said. The boy, identified as "A.J." in court papers, ingested a lethal amount of salicylates, a chemical common in aspirin and other over-the-counter drugs. The medical examiner declined to conduct an autopsy on the boy, making it difficult to determine how the drug ended up in the boy's system. A
Keep reading