OJAI : Convicted Drunk Driver Gets 6 Years

A Ventura County judge sentenced a 24-year-old convicted drunk driver Friday to six years in state prison in connection with the death of an Ojai man who was killed while riding a motor scooter home from work.

Sabino Olivera pleaded guilty last month to vehicular manslaughter in the death of 52-year-old Jerry Blue, a federal oil platform worker.

Blue was struck from behind by Olivera’s pickup truck on the afternoon of Sept. 30 while riding his motor scooter north of Vineyard Avenue near Central Avenue.

Superior Court Judge James McNally ordered the six-year sentence Friday, citing court testimony that Olivera was driving 90 m.p.h., left the scene of the crash and had a 0.25% blood-alcohol level.

Blue’s widow, Gayle, told the judge that her husband’s death has had a devastating impact on her life.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy A. Ratner said Olivera showed “total disregard for other persons on the road.”

Defense attorney Victor Salas asked the judge for leniency, saying Olivera is a Mexican national who dropped out of school as a young boy to take care of his family after his father died of a heart attack.

Salas also took issue with a probation report that he said portrayed his clients as a “menace to society.”

“Probation cannot look into a man’s heart. Nobody can,” Salas told the judge.

“Mr. Olivera wants to make it clear that he did not mean to hit the victim and to suggest such is insane,” he added later.