Dunkin pleads guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter
A Ramona motorist charged in the death of a Pt. Loma Nazarene University graduate in a fiery crash on state Route 67 pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Roy Thomas Dunkin, 51, will be sentenced Nov. 4 in the Aug. 20 death of Lucas Makana Riley, 24, of San Diego. He also pleaded guilty to drunk driving, causing injury to three other people.
Dunkin faces a maximum term of 13 years and eight months. There is no sentencing agreement with the district attorney’s office, said prosecutor Cally Bright.
Bright said Dunkin’s guilty plea was the quickest one entered in any of the drunk driving fatality cases that she has handled. Dunkin entered his guilty plea at his second court appearance after being arraigned on Aug. 24.
Usually such cases have a preliminary hearing before any guilty plea is entered. Often a trial is set and the case’s conclusion may be a year after the incident.
Dunkin’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren took Dunkin’s guilty plea and gave no indication as to what his sentence will be.
On Saturday, a memorial service was held at Pt. Loma Nazarene University for Riley. A 2014 graduate of the university, he was a sculptor. He was engaged to Shawna Wickwire, a 2013 Pt. Loma university graduate. They were to be married in October.
Pt. Loma Nazarene University President Bob Brower issued a statement after Riley’s death, saying “The PLNU community is deeply saddened by this sudden and tragic loss.”
Riley helped a PLNU art professor in the installation of a permanent art piece for the County of San Diego in Little Italy.
Riley was driving a Mini Cooper that was struck by Dunkin’s Chevrolet pickup truck, which clipped a Buick sedan in front of the Mini Cooper before striking Riley’s vehicle head-on. Riley’s car burst into flames and he died in his vehicle.
Dunkin broke his wrist in the crash. Halgren changed his $2 million bail figure to no bail, and he remains in jail.