Drivers in Fatal Santa Ana Street Race Get Six Years

Two Santa Ana men involved in a street race near South Coast Plaza last year that killed a 74-year-old woman pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular manslaughter, officials said.

Rodrigo Oregel Gomez, then 22, and Julio Enrique Trujillo, then 25, were each sentenced to six years in prison. The plea agreement came a day after a jury deadlocked on second-degree murder charges, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Yellin.

The two men, who did not know each other, revved their engines at a red light on Bristol Street near Central Avenue on May 1, 2003 and “just took off,” Yellin said.

They raced at about 80 mph until Trujillo lost control of his Mustang on the busy six-lane road and collided with an oncoming Volkswagen Golf driven by Margaret Leyva, officials said. The cars spun in midair, and the Volkswagen smashed into a light pole, killing Leyva, an alcohol counselor from Huntington Beach who was on a lunch break from work, officials said.

Trujillo suffered a broken ankle and other injuries, officials said.

Gomez, who was driving an Acura Integra, sped off but was arrested two months later when investigators found his car prepped to be repainted at an auto shop, police said.