Driver Gets 8 Years in Fatal Case

An El Cajon jury convicted a man of vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol, even though his blood-alcohol level tested well below the legal limit after the fatal wreck.

Paulin Santillan Gallardo, a 20-year-old undocumented Mexican national, was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in state prison in the death of an El Cajon 16-year-old.

Wesley Eugene Branson was killed in the Feb. 15 collision, and his friend, Clinton Hoy, 17, of El Cajon, was critically injured. Prosecutors said Santillan was speeding and ran a stop sign before crashing into the car carrying the two teen-agers.

Santillan testified that he drank three beers that night. He fled the scene of the accident on foot and was found guilty of hit-and-run and false impersonation.

When his blood was tested about two hours after the accident, the blood-alcohol level was 0.03%, well below the legal limit of 0.08%, according to court testimony.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Bost said all the circumstances of the crime, not just the blood-alcohol level, were considered by the jury. The law does not require a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% for a conviction, he said.

“You’ve got to remember that the defendant on the stand said he felt the effects of the beers. He said he felt dizzy,” Bost said.

A blood alcohol expert testified that everyone has some impairment at 0.05% and there could be some impairment at 0.03%.

Because of the time that passed between the accident and the testing of Santillan’s blood, experts testified that his blood-alcohol level could have been from 0.03 to 0.07 at the time of the accident, Bost said.

“People need to know if they’re drinking, their driving may be impaired, even if they don’t hit the 0.08 level,” Bost said.

But defense attorney Jack Hochman said the verdict, and what he termed the harsh sentence, were the result of “passion and prejudice” shown in drinking-and-driving cases.