Wrong-Way Freeway Driver Convicted of Lesser Charge

A wrong-way driver charged with murder after a fatal head-on collision on the Foothill Freeway last year was convicted Thursday of gross vehicular manslaughter.

Alexito Manuva, 35, could have been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison if he had been convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Newhall resident Frank Rodriguez on Aug. 19, 1997.

Instead, the 10-man, two woman jury in Pasadena Superior Court convicted the West Covina man of the lesser charge, resulting in no more than six years behind bars. He will be sentenced Dec. 4 by Judge Janice Croft.

During the two-week trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Doyle argued that Manuva was aware of his actions as he drove for miles against freeway traffic.

“He waved people out of the way, he was avoiding barriers and cones on the freeway and he also swerved at the last minute to avoid a collision,” Doyle said. “That indicates he appreciated the danger and didn’t care if it hurt or killed someone,” she said.

However, Deputy Public Defender Janet Greenberg successfully countered that her client should not be found guilty of murder because he suffered from a mental condition called “methamphetamine-induced paranoia,” caused by prolonged drug abuse.

“I wasn’t asking anyone to sympathize with him because he was a drug addict,” Greenberg said. “We weren’t asking people to give him a break. The reality was that because of his psychosis, he did not deliberately drive the wrong way down the freeway.”

At the time of the crash, Manuva was on probation for convictions that included narcotics possession, battery and child abuse, court records showed. The morning of the collision, Manuva was scheduled to appear in court to face a felony drug possession charge, authorities said.

The Glendale accident was one of a series of wrong-way collisions that claimed seven lives in Los Angeles County between July and September 1997.

Manuva got turned around near where the Foothill Freeway meets the Ventura Freeway in Pasadena.

Witnesses said they saw the defendant on the Foothill Freeway reaching speeds of up to 70 mph. Manuva hit two cars with his Honda Accord before slamming into the Ford Mustang driven by Rodriguez near the Lowell Avenue exit of the Foothill Freeway in Glendale.

There was so much debris at the scene that officers could not determine whether either driver had braked, California Highway Patrol investigators said. Rodriguez was pronounced dead soon after the accident.

Manuva had a criminal record dating back at least three years. In May 1994 in Citrus Municipal Court in West Covina, he was convicted of battery and possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to three years’ probation; he served 90 days in jail.

One year later, in the same courthouse, Manuva was convicted of being under the influence of a controlled substance, sentenced to another three years’ probation and fined $100; he served 180 days in jail, according to court records.

Manuva was arrested again in January for willful cruelty to a child. He was convicted in March and sentenced to three years’ probation, fined $100 and required to complete a parenting class.