Racism Ruled No Factor in Drunk-Driving Murder Cases

A Vista Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that the district attorney’s office has not selectively charged non-whites with second-degree murder in fatal drunk-driving cases, but he nonetheless said he had concerns about how such cases are filed.

To the surprise of even prosecutors, Judge Tony Maino said he was perplexed that more second-degree murder cases haven’t been filed against drunk drivers whose outrageous driving led to fatalities.

“Some disturbing statistics have come out,” Maino said, referring to a study showing that of 161 cases of drunk-driving fatalities over a three-year span, only five drivers were charged with second-degree murder. Maino said he doesn’t have “a lot of confidence in the ssuing process” in deciding when to charge second-degree murder.

Nonetheless, Maino said, “the survey doesn’t prove what (defense attorneys) hoped it would prove,” that the decisions were racially motivated.

Public defenders John Jimenez and Roy Spencer had contended that the Vista office of the district attorney’s office had specifically targeted non-whites for the most severe prosecution, and had not similarly charged white drivers involved with equally egregious drunk driving. Furthermore, said Jimenez, the district attorney’s office has appeared more willing to accept reduced pleas by white drivers than non-white drivers.

Of the five second-degree murder charges filed in San Diego County against drunk drivers over the three years, four were filed in Vista--and three of those charges were against non-whites. Nonetheless, Maino said, he does not think there has been selective prosecution of non-whites.

Jimenez and Spencer said they will appeal Maino’s decision to the appellate court and ask for a delay in the prosecution of their clients until the appeal can be heard.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Bell, whose primary assignment in Vista is to decide which charges to file against defendants, said he was surprised by Maino’s remark that more, not fewer, second-degree charges should be filed against drunk drivers who kill.

Although previous case law has established the criteria in which second-degree murder charges can be filed in traffic fatalies--including whether the driver showed a subjective understanding that his driving could cause death. Bell said the same precedent admonishes prosecutors to file second-degree charges only in the most extreme circumstances.

“Otherwise, I’d be filing a lot more of them,” Bell said.

Aside from the specific issue of selective prosecution, Maino said, he is bothered by what he called laxity within the district attorney’s office involving which deputy district attorneys have made decisions on which cases to seek second-degree murder convictions.

Testimony from deputy district attorneys about the internal decision-making process was “very disturbing,” Maino said. But that concern, he said, should be addressed by administrators, not judges.

Maino also rejected motions by Jimenez and Spencer that Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller, as well as two members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), be forced to testify.

The defense attorneys wanted to press Miller on the criteria he uses in filing specific charges, and wanted to question the MADD representatives about how they have allegedly tried to pressure prosecutors into seeking second-degree murder convictions. The defense argued that there has been a particular push by MADD for tougher convictions in Vista courts because MADD national president Norma Phillips lives in Escondido,

Statistical Anomaly

However, Maino ruled that Miller would have nothing further to add to the hearing. The judge said that MADD might think it exerts more influence than it actually does with prosecutors, since there was no testimony from deputy district attorneys that they were influenced by the organization.

At one point Wednesday, the third day of the hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Fisher asked Maino to make an immediate ruling. “There’s not a shred of evidence to support the charge of racism,” he said. The fact that three of the four North County defendants were non-white, Fisher said, was “a statistical anomaly.”

The three second-degree murder defendants represented by public defenders Jimez and Spencer are Rudy Martinez, charged with the deaths of pedestrians Michael Wolf and Danny McAllister in Cardiff last year after allegedly losing control of his car in a drag race along Old Highway 101; Dennis Butler, charged with the deaths last year of Gary Nettleland and Victor Donnan while allegedly driving more than 110 m.p.h. down Mission Avenue in Oceanside, and Fernando Cobarrubias, charged with the death of Maxima Hernandez while she was standing near an Oceanside bus stop last year.