Deputy Pleads No Contest to Manslaughter in Fatal Crash

A deputy sheriff who caused a traffic accident in March that killed one woman and injured four others has pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Clarence M. Stewart, who entered the plea in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Tuesday, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. He was off duty when the accident occurred.

Sentencing was scheduled for next month. In the meantime, Stewart, 32, is free without bail.

His plea was entered after negotiations with prosecutors, but Stewart received no special treatment because he was a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, said Allen Field, head deputy district attorney for the county.

“It was not much of a plea-bargain,” Field said. “The only arrangement we agreed to was that he would do at least the minimum of the mid-term sentence. That’s six years.

“In court, we will probably be asking for the maximum, which is 10 years.”

By law, Stewart will also have to pay restitution to the family of the dead woman, who was 20 years old and had a 2-year-old daughter. The amount will be set by Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith, who will determine Stewart’s sentence.

Stewart had been a deputy 11 years.

Early on the morning of March 10, he was driving on Sierra Highway in Lancaster when he struck a Toyota Tercel occupied by the five women, according to a sheriff’s report.

Prosecutors said Stewart’s car was traveling about 75 mph in a 55 mph zone. Stewart was arrested at the scene on suspicion of felony drunk driving.

Danielle Harris, a lifelong resident of Lancaster, died shortly after being taken to Lancaster Community Hospital.

Her friends said she graduated from Desert Winds High School in 1994 and was attending the Bryman School in Canoga Park to become a medical assistant.