Driver Got Jail Term Before Fatal Accident

Justin Neff, arrested for drunk driving after an accident that killed a Fillmore Senior High School student last week, had been sentenced to jail on an earlier drunk driving conviction just two days before the fatal crash.

But, in a move described as routine in such cases, a Ventura County judge gave Neff a month to get his affairs in order before starting his sentence.

Neff, 20, who remains at the Ventura County Medical Center with internal injuries, had been on three years’ probation from a 1988 drunk driving conviction when he pleaded guilty last week to the second drunk driving charge.

Early Friday, less than 48 hours after his courtroom appearance in connection with that violation, investigators say Neff was drunk and lost control of his sports car on a winding road south of Fillmore. The car smashed into a wooden telephone pole, killing passenger James Anderson, 18.

Anderson, who had received his high school diploma only a few hours before he was killed, will be buried today.

In a pre-sentence report last week, Deputy Probation Officer Michelle Henry wrote that Neff “feels he has an alcohol problem” and was “looking into a rehab clinic.” Even so, Henry recommended a six-month jail sentence, noting that Neff had five probation violations and numerous traffic infractions.

“Defendant’s performance has been poor,” Henry wrote. “It appears that perhaps a lengthy incarceration would have an impact on the defendant’s behavior.”

Ventura Municipal Judge Art Gutierrez, however, sentenced Neff to 30 days in jail and gave him a month to get his affairs in order. The judge fined Neff $1,225 and placed him on five years’ probation.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve J. Fox said she concurred with the probation officer’s sentencing recommendation. She speculated that Gutierrez imposed the lesser sentence because Neff, who represented himself, saved the court time by pleading guilty. She said the 30-day delay before the start of the sentence is standard.

Gutierrez could not be reached for comment, and Henry declined to talk about the sentence.

Neff’s second drunk driving conviction stemmed from his arrest on May 13 at El Paseo and C streets in Fillmore. A sheriff’s deputy noticed that Neff was having trouble parking the truck he was driving.

Neff fled on foot but was caught, according to the arresting deputy’s report. Neff said he had been drinking at the Elkins Ranch Golf Course and had consumed at least a 12-pack of beer, the arrest report said.

“I don’t keep count,” Neff said, according to the report. Deputies said Neff told them: “I don’t have to take a test. You know I’m drunk.”

His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.23%, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08%.

Neff’s first drunk driving arrest was on May 21, 1988, when he was a Fillmore High student. He was stopped about 1 a.m. at Sespe Avenue and Old Telegraph Road in Fillmore, driving the same car he wrecked Friday night.

No details of the arrest were available, but on conviction the following month, Neff was sentenced to two days in jail and was placed on three years’ probation.

In the two years between convictions, Neff was cited for following too closely, driving with a suspended license, driving without insurance, ignoring a traffic signal, failing to wear a seat belt and twice failing to appear in court as ordered.

In February, his father, Burkley Neff of Fillmore, swore out a battery complaint alleging that his son had struck him in the face and bitten him on the back. Justin Neff was booked into Ventura County Jail and was released on $250 bail. Burkley Neff dropped the complaint a month later.

Fox said that whatever the outcome of the new drunk-driving case filed after Friday’s accident, the district attorney’s office will seek to have Neff’s probation from the prior convictions revoked.

Nurses said Tuesday that Neff is still too groggy to be interviewed, although his condition has been upgraded to fair and he is no longer in intensive care.

Since graduating from Fillmore High, Neff has been living with his grandparents in Garden Grove while working at a furniture store.

Anderson’s funeral will begin at 10 a.m. today at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1017 1st St., Fillmore. Burial will follow at Bardsdale Cemetery.