Driver Who Killed 3 in ’89 Faces New DUI Count

A convicted drunk driver who slammed into a group of youths in Ventura County 11 years ago, killing three of them, was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of drunk driving and public intoxication in connection with incidents this year.

“We are talking about public safety,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Barbara Kim said during the arraignment of Diane Mannes, 46.

Watching court proceedings from a seat in the front row of the courtroom was Camarillo resident Linda Oxenreider, whose 19-year-old son, Joshua, was one of the teenagers killed by Mannes in 1989.

“It’s really hard to look at the person who murdered your child, and terrifying to think she is out drunk driving again,” Oxenreider said after the hearing. “She is a lethal person. She absolutely needs to be taken off the streets.”

Mannes was arrested in court Tuesday after failing to appear for an earlier hearing.

She had been arrested on Aug. 11 on suspicion of drunk driving after a sheriff’s deputy noticed her vehicle weaving on Ponderosa Drive in Camarillo. Authorities said she had a 0.28% blood-alcohol level, more than three times the legal drunk-driving threshold.

She was released on $10,000 bail.

Two months later, Mannes was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication after customers called police when she collapsed in a Ventura bar.

On Monday, she failed to appear for a court hearing on the public intoxication charge and an arrest warrant was issued. On Tuesday, she appeared for arraignment on the drunk driving charge and was taken into custody.

Ventura Court Commissioner Ruben De Le Torre agreed Tuesday that she poses a safety risk. But he denied the prosecution’s request for $1 million bail and set bail at $20,000.

Mannes pleaded not guilty, and a trial date was set for Dec. 19.

She faces as much as 18 months in jail if she is convicted on all charges. Her cases have been filed as misdemeanors, despite her prior convictions for drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

Prosecutors say they are compelled to treat the Aug. 11 drunk driving arrest as if it were a first offense because state law puts a 10-year limit on the amount of time in which a felony can be considered a prior offense.

“We really feel our hands are tied by the law right now,” Kim said after the hearing. “We’d like to see that changed.”

Oxenreider, who is state chairwoman of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she is working with associates in Sacramento to “see that that law is changed.”

In March 1989, Mannes ran into five youths walking along the Conejo Grade after a flat tire.

Jacob Boyd, 14, Joshua Oxenreider, 19, and Darin Mullins, 20, were killed. Jeremy Boyd, 19, and Jeff Botens, 16, were seriously injured.

A jury convicted Mannes of drunk driving, but deadlocked on a murder charge, and a judge later dismissed the murder case.

Eventually, Mannes pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. She served two years on the drunk driving conviction and was sentenced to probation on the manslaughter plea.

She violated probation in 1994, admitting in court that she had been drinking alcohol and had failed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. She was sentenced to 44 months in prison but was released two years later.

For Oxenreider, seeing Mannes in court again dredged up painful memories. But it also made her more determined to fight for tougher penalties for people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol.

“I have to do this,” she said. “I have to make sure no other mom or dad has to bury a son or daughter because of a drunk driver.”