Driver Arrested in Fatal Crash Was on Probation : Courts: Simi Valley man had been fined in 1992 for being under the influence of alcohol. Woman died in fiery collision near Moorpark last week.

A Simi Valley man jailed on suspicion of drunk driving after a 26-year-old Thousand Oaks woman died in a fiery car collision last week near Moorpark was on probation for driving while intoxicated, court records show.

“I feel sorry for the man,” said Patricia Huntley, mother of Samantha Huntley, who police say died when her car burst into flames after being rear-ended by Glen James Paton’s pickup truck. “Hopefully, he’s going through a worse hell than we are.”

Paton, 29, had been placed on three years probation, fined $1,470 and ordered not to drive with alcohol in his body after being found guilty of two counts of driving under the influence last year, the records show.

The crash in which Huntley died is still under investigation. Investigators are waiting for the results of blood samples taken from Paton after the accident. Paton remains in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $125,000 bail.

On New Year’s Eve 1991, he was arrested on Los Angeles Avenue east of Erringer Road on suspicion of driving under the influence. His car had skidded to a stop next to a Simi Valley police officer shortly after 7 p.m., a police report said.

Another driver told the officer that Paton appeared to be under the influence. The officer followed Paton’s 1976 Ford Pinto before pulling it over for having an inoperable taillight, the report said.

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In his report, the officer wrote that he could smell a strong odor of alcohol on Paton’s breath and that he appeared intoxicated.

Paton--whose blood alcohol level turned out to be 0.21%, nearly three times more than the legal limit for driving in California--told the officer that he had consumed two beers at a local bar.

He was found guilty of two counts of driving under the influence, given a two-day jail sentence and ordered to attend alcohol-information school.

Authorities said Huntley, who enjoyed working with animals and had applied for enrollment in veterinarian schools all over the country, was driving west on Tierra Rejada Road just east of the Moorpark Freeway when her car was struck from behind by Paton’s pickup about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The impact caused her car to careen into a utility pole and burst into flames, killing her at the scene, according to police. Paton and two passengers were treated for minor injuries and released.

Paton was arrested at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving.

Traffic investigators said they will turn their final reports of the crash over to prosecutors after they get the results of Paton’s blood sample back from the laboratory. They expect to complete the process by Wednesday, Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Smith said.

No statistics on the number of drunk-driving cases prosecuted in the county for 1993 were available Monday.

But Linda Finnerty, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Ventura County, said anecdotal evidence indicates that such cases--including those involving fatalities--have decreased.

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She said Paton’s previous case appears to have been handled properly, considering that he was a first-time offender.

But she advocated lowering the legal limit for driving with alcohol in a person’s body from 0.08% to 0.00%.

“It just needs to be zero, period,” Finnerty said. “Once they start drinking, they don’t realize that they are that impaired because alcohol dulls the senses, and innocent people have to pay for it.”

Patricia Huntley said she will ask prosecutors to file charges of second-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter. Typically, prosecutors file the less serious charge of vehicular manslaughter in such cases, meaning offenders face up to 10 years in prison instead of the 25 years to life that a murder charge could bring.

Finnerty said other counties have successfully prosecuted people guilty of drunk driving-related fatalities for second-degree murder, but that it had never been done in Ventura County.

Services for Samantha Huntley, who grew up in Los Angeles County, were held Monday. She graduated from North Hollywood High School and received a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

She had applied for veterinary programs all over the country and was working as a technician at the American Veterinary Hospital in Simi Valley, said her mother, who also has a 24-year-old son.