Man Gets Year in Jail Over Traffic Fatality

A San Fernando man with a lengthy record of speeding was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail for a speed-related accident in which his passenger was killed.

The sentence was short of the 18-month maximum prosecutors had sought.

Todd Lawrence Olson, 25, was speeding on Balboa Boulevard on Jan. 2, 1998, when he swerved to miss a car that had begun to turn in front of him.

He lost control of his Acura Integra and smashed into a pole, killing a passenger and friend, 23-year-old Julia Dawn Sokolow. He had been ticketed eight times in the previous two years for excessive speed and his license was suspended at the time of the accident, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Mintz filed felony manslaughter charges, based in part on Olson’s driving record. Olson was convicted of the lesser crime of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter last month.