Drunk Driver Who Killed Girl, 15, May Get 3 Years

A 19-year-old Encino college student will be sentenced to no more than three years in prison for drunk driving that claimed the life of a 15-year-old Birmingham High School cheerleader whose death inspired a colorful curbside memorial in an Encino residential neighborhood.

Under terms of a plea bargain reached Friday in Van Nuys Superior Court, Dennis William Blumenthal pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with the fatal 1986 accident. Blumenthal also pleaded guilty to a second count of causing a death while driving under the influence of alcohol.

The two counts carry a maximum prison term of three years. He was originally charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, under which he could have received a six-year prison term.

He will be sentenced Nov. 6.

Sharon Elizabeth Barnett of Tarzana was killed in a fiery crash about 2 a.m. Dec. 28 at the intersection of Valley Vista Boulevard and Zelzah Avenue. Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said Blumenthal, driving a pickup truck, went through a stop sign and hit the side of the car in which Barnett was a passenger.

Sharon’s friends created an impromptu memorial at the scene, and, for days afterward, traffic slowed at the intersection to view the colorful display of roses, floral bouquets, fruits, balloons and mementos left at the curbside.

Jason Warner, 19, Barnett’s boyfriend and the driver of the car, was seriously injured in the accident. A passenger in Blumenthal’s car was slightly injured. Both the prosecutor and Blumenthal’s attorney, Michael delson, agreed that there was evidence that Warner also had been drinking.

Blumenthal, a California State University, Northridge student, had been drinking from pitchers of beer at a Sherman Oaks billiards parlor for more than five hours before the crash, Diamond said. He said Blumenthal’s blood-alcohol level was 0.10, the point at which the law presumes a person to be intoxicated.

However, a second blood-alcohol test performed from the same blood sample at the request of Blumenthal’s attorney produced a level of 0.09, just below the legal limit, according to evidence at a preliminary hearing.

In agreeing to the plea bargain, Diamond said: “We felt that he pleaded to everything we anticipated we could prove, given the current state of the evidence.” He said other factors included Blumenthal’s lack of a criminal record.

Barnett’s mother, Carole Barnett, said she was satisfied with the outcome of the case because Blumenthal admitted guilt.

“I’m not out for revenge,” said Carole Barnett, adding that it would not bring back her daughter.