Driver Held After Crash Kills Woman

An Anaheim man with a history of drunk driving was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter driving under the influence after he slammed his car into a utility pole, instantly killing his female passenger, authorities said.

Merle Ray Howe, 39, is also suspected of driving with a suspended license. Howe was driving east on Chapman Avenue west of Beach Boulevard shortly before 8 a.m. when he lost control of his red Mercury Tracer, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson said.

The identify of the 34-year-old Anaheim woman who died in the crash was withheld pending notification of relatives. Howe was treated for minor injuries at Western Medical Center-Anaheim, Wilkerson said. He is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu on $50,000 bail.

Howe’s license was suspended three times in 1991 for four alcohol-related incidents, including two drunk-driving convictions and refusing to take a sobriety test, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Howe’s arrest--and the woman’s death--sparked outrage Wednesday at the Orange County branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“These situations are completely preventable, which adds to the frustration and grief that families go through,” said MADD executive director Reidel Post. “When someone is a repeat offender they have already been processed through the system and obviously whatever measures were taken did not work.”

Howe’s estranged father said he had not seen his son in more than 25 years, but was saddened and shocked by his child’s latest brush with the law.

“He was always in jail,” said Merle R. Howe Sr., who lives near Palm Springs. “Every time I turned around he was in jail. I don’t think he’ll be a free man anymore.”

Howe is portrayed in court records as continuously ignoring the law--refusing to show up to court when ordered, failing to complete court-ordered programs for alcohol abusers, violating probation and ignoring orders not to drive while his license was suspended.

According to Orange County court records, Howe was convicted of drunk driving in May 1991 and sentenced to five days in jail and three years’ probation. Two months later, Howe faced charges of using excessive force and defacing property during a fight while visiting his roommate’s family and was again sentenced to three years’ probation, according to court records.

Five months later, Howe led police on a high-speed chase that ended with his arrest on suspicion of evading police, driving under the influence and driving without a license, court records show.

Over the next three years, he violated probation four times and served several short stints in Orange County Jail, according to the records.

In January 1993, Howe’s former roommate called police and accused him of cutting the telephone line at her San Juan Capistrano home, according to court records. In November of that year, Howe was accused of misrepresenting himself as a police officer.

Howe pleaded guilty in May 1995 to several vehicle code violations and was once again sentenced to three years’ probation, according to court records, which also show that warrants were repeatedly issued for Howe for failing to appear in court as ordered.

Also contributing to this report were Times staff writers Greg Hernandez and Thao Hua and correspondent Frank Messina.