Drunk Driver Gets 4 Years for Death

A convicted drunk driver was sentenced to four years in state prison Wednesday for the vehicular manslaughter last summer of Charles Goeb, a member of the Rancho Penasquitos Town Council who had campaigned for traffic signals and a pedestrian crosswalk at the intersection where he was killed.

Goeb, who had cerebral palsy and walked with crutches, was struck and killed instantly while crossing Carmel Mountain Road at Stony Creek Road just minutes after attending a town council meeting Aug. 9 at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church.

San Diego police at the scene arrested Patrick J. Moore, 24, who also lived in Rancho Penasquitos. Moore was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.22%, more than twice the level of legal intoxication.

Vista Superior Court Judge Charles Hayes sentenced Moore to the maximum state prison term of four years because Moore had acknowledged that he had an alcohol problem and because Goeb, 43, was a particularly vulnerable victim, given his reliance on crutches.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Waters acknowledged that Moore was not speeding or otherwise driving recklessly the night of the crash, but had tried to blame the accident “on fate” instead of holding himself accountable.

“It’s not an accident when, despite exposure to the problem of drinking, he went out that night after drinking since about noon,” Waters said. “It’s not an accident when, fully cognizant of his problem, he takes the keys out of his pocket and into his car.”

The investigation showed that Moore had been drinking since about noon and had consumed nearly 60 ounces of beer--the equivalent of five cans--within 2 1/2 hours of striking Goeb.

There were no braking skid marks at the crash scene until the moment of impact, Waters said, indicating that, although Moore had a clear view of the intersection, he didn’t try to stop until the moment of impact.

Moore told a probation officer after he was convicted, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I shouldn’t have been under the influence.”

Deputy Probation Officer Patricia Bonner wrote in her report: “This defendant has an extremely superficial understanding of the extent of his alcohol problem and continues to insist that this offense was an accident.

“It appears . . . that the defendant is attempting to shift the burden of responsibility from his own irresponsible actions to ‘fate.’ The probation officer is deeply concerned over the defendant’s extreme denial and believes that he will be a danger to others until such time he can accept full responsibility for his actions.”