2 Youths Get 60 Days in Racing Death : Woman Was Killed When Speeding Cars Struck Her Vehicle

A judge Wednesday sentenced two Huntington Beach 18-year-olds to 60 days in a juvenile detention facility for their part in what the prosecution charged was a drag race in which a mother of five was killed.

Superior Court Judge Luis Cardenas sentenced Randy Craft and Jeffrey Thomas to the 60 days in custody, plus three years’ probation, and left it up to the Probation Department to determine in which facility the teen-agers should serve their time.

The five-day sentencing hearing was closed to the press and public except for relatives of the victim and of the defendants at the request of Craft. Because it was a Juvenile Court proceeding, the defendants had the option of asking that the public be excluded.

Racing at 80 m.p.h.

Craft and Thomas were originally charged with second-degree murder in connection with the Dec. 2, 1983, killing of Gloria Chang, 48, of Fountain Valley. Police said Craft and Thomas were racing each other at speeds of at least 80 m.p.h. on Adams Street near Newland Street when Mrs. Chang started to turn onto Newland. Her car was struck by Thomas’ car and seconds later by the Craft car, hurling Mrs. Chang’s auto about 375 feet.

Mrs. Chang’s sister, Genevieve Victorino of Fountain Valley, said after the sentence was imposed that “the judge gave the sentence and I guess he’s the expert on Juvenile (Court) items.”

“I have no knowledge as far as juvenile courts are concerned. The only thing I say is when you lose a life, do you think two months is fair?” Victorino said.

Original Charges Reduced

Last November Cardenas reduced the original second-degree murder charges against Craft and Thomas, ruling that an appellate court decision barred the murder allegations if drivers were not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The teen-agers then pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter.

Defense attorneys said there was no evidence that the youths were racing and said that while they admitted exceeding the speed limit, they did not admit they were driving recklessly.