Driver Gets Probation in Passenger’s Death

A Reseda man was sentenced Wednesday to three years probation for vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving stemming from an accident that killed a Canoga Park man last year.

Glenn Robert Moss, 35, was convicted last month in connection with the March 5, 1988, accident.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne A. Stoltz said she imposed the minimum allowable sentence because Moss had no previous convictions. Stoltz also noted that Moss’ intentions were admirable. He was driving because he thought that his companion, Fabian Gutierrez, 27, the man killed in the accident, was too intoxicated to drive.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman said afterward: “I have no complaints with the court’s decision.” Moss could have received a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Moss and Gutierrez had been drinking with friends at a Woodland Hills bar before the accident, authorities said.

After leaving the bar, Moss drove the two in Gutierrez’s car toward the home of another friend. Witnesses told police that Moss was driving because he and others thought that Gutierrez had drunk too much alcohol.

Moss failed to make a turn at Farralone Avenue and Philiprimm Street, and the car overturned. Gutierrez was thrown through a side window, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.