NEWPORT BEACH : Retrial Vowed if Ornelas Appeals Fail

County prosecutors say that if their appeals fail, they will retry Daniel David Ornelas, whose vehicular manslaughter conviction was reversed last month by an appellate court.

Ornelas, 20, was convicted in 1989 of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated for killing Debbie Killelea of Newport Beach. The 4th District Court of Appeal threw out the “gross negligence” conviction but said it would accept a conviction on a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

The lesser charge would essentially reduce Ornelas’ sentence range to two to four years, from 10 years.

“If we fail with his appeal effort, we will definitely try him again,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Randolph J. Pawloski. “Nothing about the case has changed; we think his conduct amounted to gross negligence.”

If the 4th District does not act by Monday on a prosecution request for rehearing, the case will go to the state Supreme Court.

Killelea, 37, was walking with two of her three young children in an alley in Newport Beach on Sept. 1, 1988, when Ornelas drove through at 50 to 55 m.p.h. She apparently stepped in front of the vehicle, upset about Ornelas’ speed, then tried to jump back, but was too late. She died later that night from her injuries.

A passenger in the car playing with a video camera unwittingly recorded the last seconds before impact.

The jury rejected the prosecution’s request for a murder conviction but returned the next-highest verdict available: vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated.

The appellate court found that Superior Court Judge Luis A. Cardenas erred by not giving jurors proper instructions about lesser offenses. It also disagreed with Cardenas’ reasons for giving Ornelas the maximum 10-year sentence.

Ornelas remains in Soledad Prison, pending a final decision.