Charges Filed in Grad Night Accident : Drunk driving: A 20-year-old man is accused of manslaughter in a crash that killed a passenger who had just received his diploma from Fillmore High School.

The driver in a graduation-night accident in which a Bardsdale teen-ager died was charged Tuesday with vehicular manslaughter and gross negligence.

Justin Neff, 20, also was charged with causing bodily injury while driving under the influence of alcohol and with being under the influence of cocaine at the time of the accident. He could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes said.

The charges stem from an accident on Guiberson Road south of Fillmore about 1:30 a.m. on June 15. Neff, a 1988 graduate of Fillmore High School, traveled from his home in Garden Grove to attend the school’s 1990 commencement, witnesses said.

At a party, Neff met James Anderson, 18, who had just received his diploma, and agreed to give him a ride home, witnesses said. Anderson died when Neff lost control of his car and it smashed into a utility pole. The vehicle was cut in half on impact.

Neff, who suffered internal injuries, appeared in Ventura County Municipal Court in a wheelchair on Tuesday. His arraignment was continued until July 17 and the case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch.

One of Neff’s two attorneys, Richard C. Loy, said he still is studying the evidence but expects to enter a not-guilty plea. Loy, who frequently handles drunk-driving cases, is assisting attorney Michael Norris of Redondo Beach on the Neff case.

Neff is being held in the infirmary of the Ventura County Jail, with bail set at $250,000. The normal bail for gross vehicular manslaughter is $10,000, but Neff’s was increased at the request of the California Highway Patrol, which investigated the accident.

Noting that Neff had been convicted of drunk driving for the second time only two days before the accident, CHP Investigator M.E. Polanco wrote: “In light of his past actions . . . Neff is clearly a danger to society.”

In his request for a higher bail, Polanco also said that Neff has been convicted five times of being under the influence of cocaine, has an extensive record of traffic violations and has been convicted of battery and resisting arrest.

For a conviction of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, the state must prove that Neff was negligent in causing the crash, Holmes said. He said he considered charging Neff with second-degree murder before deciding that the manslaughter charge was “appropriate.”

Second-degree murder carries a term of 15 years to life, and prosecutors have to prove malice to get a conviction.

Holmes declined to reveal the results of blood-alcohol tests. He did confirm, however, that evidence includes a videotape seized from a Chevron station in Fillmore. Employees of the store said in an interview that Neff tried to purchase beer there the night of the accident but was refused because he appeared to be intoxicated.