Man Pleads Guilty in Drunk-Driving Deaths

A 22-year-old San Fernando Valley man pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges Thursday in the drunk-driving deaths of two women on the Ventura Freeway last month.

Arturo C. Quintero of Panorama City entered the pleas in Ventura County Municipal Court, where he was to have had a preliminary hearing Thursday. He had initially pleaded not guilty.

Through an interpreter, the Spanish-speaking Quintero pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the deaths of Sonia Schneider, 25, of Santa Barbara and Alicia Cranney, 26, of Santa Maria.

He also admitted causing bodily injury to Jacqueline Antles, 31, of Goleta and admitted having a drunk-driving conviction in 1990.

Investigators said the three women were friends who, with Antles’ husband, were on their way home from watching motorcycle races in Bakersfield when the fatal crash occurred about 3:25 a.m. June 27.

Riding north on the freeway in two cars, the group had pulled over just south of the Santa Barbara County line to check a trailer tire when Quintero plowed into the rear of the second car, investigators said.

Quintero was traveling about 85 m.p.h. when he ran off the road, investigators said. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.12% a few hours later, and investigators calculated that it probably was about 0.16%--twice the legal limit--at the time of the crash.

Quintero received minor injuries.

His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Brian L. Boles, said one of the reasons Quintero pleaded guilty early in the proceedings was to spare the victims’ families further grief.

“Mr. Quintero is very remorseful,” Boles said. “He wishes it could have been him rather than the victims.”

Marianne Miller, a victims’ advocate for the district attorney’s office, said the victims’ families were pleased with the change of plea.

“They are relieved that they did not have to sit through a preliminary hearing or a trial,” she said. “They’re grateful that he pleaded guilty.”

Municipal Judge Roland N. Purnell accepted the guilty pleas and assigned the case to Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele for sentencing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes said Quintero’s early plea will be viewed as a mitigating factor at the sentencing, which is scheduled for Aug. 13. Quintero could receive a maximum sentence of 14 years and 8 months, Holmes said.

The only charge dropped as part of the guilty plea was an allegation that Quintero was driving with a suspended license. Conviction on that charge would not have increased the maximum possible sentence, Holmes said.