Driver Gets 300-Day Term in Crash Killing Passenger

A 23-year-old Sunshine Summit man was sentenced Tuesday to 300 days in a county honor camp after the car he was driving crashed into a tree on California 79 north of Warner Springs on June 7, killing his passenger.

“There’s no way you can replace a human life,” Vista Superior Court Judge Runston Maino said. “But you got off pretty well in this case.”

Paul John Talerico Jr. had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of driving a stolen vehicle and a misdemeanor manslaughter charge in an agreement with another Superior Court judge who said, in exchange for the plea, that he would not sentence Talerico to more than a year in jail. The district attorney’s office had sought a three-year sentence. In addition to the 300 days, he was sentenced to three years’ probation.

Talerico later tried to change his plea to not guilty so he could stand trial, claiming he didn’t know the car was stolen and that the victim reached over and grabbed the steering wheel while they were driving down the highway, causing the crash.

But Maino rejected the attempt, and Tuesday said he would abide by the other judge’s recommended sentence of a year or less in local jail.

The case has stirred much emotion in Sunshine Summit, a small North County community at the eastern base of Palomar Mountain. The car crash took the life of Steven Paul (Johnny) Lawrence, 32, one of the most popular residents of the town. Flyers in the town have urged citizens to write the judge and push for the maximum sentence for Talerico.

During an earlier court appearance, Judge Maino said, “The people in the community think you’re an out-of-control person, vicious and violent.”

Talerico’s defense attorney, Bill Rafael, said Tuesday that his client was remorseful, even if he had difficulty accepting culpability in the death.

Rafael suggested that Lawrence knew of Talerico’s driving habits, and, when he accepted a ride with Talerico, “he should have been prepared to go on a ride--a fast ride.” Besides, Rafael said, “it wasn’t like (Talerico) nailed some completely innocent bystander at a bus stop.”

Maino said Talerico--who was driving on a suspended license, holds no regular job, is a high-school dropout and had traces of methamphetamine in his system at the time of the crash--shows “a real lack of responsibility.”

“You’re living at home, and you’re sort of babied,” Maino said. “There’s no evidence that you can’t be a good, hard-working, decent citizen--but there’s no evidence that you have been, either.”