Woman Convicted in Deputy’s ’98 Death

A 37-year-old Ventura woman was found guilty Wednesday of vehicular manslaughter in the death of Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Lisa Whitney, and prosecutors revealed that the defendant had a prior manslaughter conviction.

The earlier conviction was for stabbing a man to death in San Diego County in 1981. That finding is significant because it could lead to a much lengthier prison sentence for Tanya Pittman, convicted of driving through a faulty traffic signal and broadsiding Whitney’s car last year near the County Government Center in east Ventura.

It took jurors three hours to convict Pittman of the felony charge, accepting the prosecution’s argument Pittman was under the influence of methamphetamine and muscle relaxers when she ran the intersection on Aug. 12, 1998, and killed the 28-year-old peace officer.

The verdict--delivered before a courtroom packed with Whitney’s friends, family and fellow law enforcement officers--brought many to tears.

“I think the jury’s verdict reflects the belief that people must be held accountable for their actions, their judgment and their poor decisions,” said Whitney’s mother, Jan Bryant. “It doesn’t bring Lisa back. But it definitely makes a statement: ‘Don’t do drugs, don’t drink and don’t drive.’ ”

Pittman was taken into custody after the verdict following arguments by Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon that she poses a flight risk.

To back up his contention, Simon introduced evidence of Pittman’s prior run-ins with the law, including a 1989 drug conviction and a 1981 conviction for involuntary manslaughter, stemming from her fatal stabbing of a man on a beach in San Diego County. Pittman served 180 days in jail for that crime.

Simon contends that the 1981 conviction should constitute a first-strike felony under California’s three-strikes law, meaning Pittman could face up to 14 years in prison for Whitney’s death.

Defense attorney James M. Farley, however, said there were extenuating circumstances surrounding the 1981 conviction, including evidence that Pittman had acted in self-defense. Farley contends that it should not count as a first-strike conviction, in which case Pittman’s prison sentence would be lowered to a maximum of five years.

According to court testimony, Pittman was driving 56 mph in a 45-mph zone when she entered the intersection of Hill and Telephone roads in east Ventura. The crash occurred at 6:49 p.m. About 10 minutes earlier, a transformer explosion had knocked out power to the intersection’s traffic signals.

Whitney, an Oxnard resident, was driving to Camarillo to interview a witness in a rape case she was investigating. She was making a left turn onto Telephone Road when her car was hit by Pittman, who was driving to work at United Parcel Service.

After the verdict, Sheriff Bob Brooks said, “We don’t have any personal malice toward Ms. Pittman. But a crime was committed, a life was lost, and justice was served today.”