Arleta Man Charged With Murder in Death of Pedestrians

A judge ordered a 26-year-old Arleta man accused of driving while drunk to stand trial for murder in the deaths of two pedestrians who were killed when they were struck by the man’s pickup truck on a North Hollywood sidewalk.

Prosecutors said they took the unusual step of seeking murder charges against Frumencio Ortega in part because Ortega had two prior drunk driving convictions and therefore knew or should have known that driving while intoxicated could result in deaths, said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Dver.

Dver also said that prosecutors decided to seek murder charges because of the severity of the May 18 accident and the fact that Ortega fled the scene.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb ruled after a preliminary hearing that there was sufficient evidence to hold Ortega on seven felony counts stemming from the accident. The other charges include vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving and hit-and-run driving.

Bobb scheduled Ortega’s arraignment in Van Nuys Superior Court for June 18.

Daniel Torres DeJesus, 52, and Evangelina Marin, 23, and Marin’s husband, Felipe, 23, were struck on the sidewalk at Lankershim Boulevard near Cohasset Street about 11:30 p.m. Ortega’s southbound pickup truck hit a car, careened toward a telephone pole and jumped onto the sidewalk to strike the victims, all of whom lived in North Hollywood. DeJesus’s body was thrown over a 4-foot brick wall, Dver said.

DeJesus and Evangelina Marin were killed. Felipe Marin was critically injured in the accident.

Ortega then drove about 300 feet before crashing into a van, disabling his car. He was arrested by Los Angeles police at the scene.

Marin and DeJesus were dead when they arrived at local hospitals, Dver said.

Ortega, whose blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.2%--more than twice the level of alcohol at which a driver is considered drunk--had been trying repeatedly to pass two cars before the accident, Dver said.