The driver in a fatal wrong-way crash on Highway 14 in 2013 pleaded no-contest to multiple charges Monday.
Bradford Pate, 40, of Burbank, was driving a 2006 Toyota Tundra southbound in northbound lanes near Escondido Canyon Road in the early-morning hours of June 22, 2013, when he collided with a 2006 Chrysler 300 that swerved and struck a rideshare van.
Killed were Rev. Manard Giles, a 77-year-old Quartz Hill minister who was driving the Chrysler, and his passenger Mattie Lee Ferguson, a 60-year-old Lancaster woman who succumbed to her injuries two nights later at Providence Holy Cross Hospital.
Pate had a previous DUI conviction in Ventura County in 2007. Now he faced two murder charges, a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, a DUI causing injury, and a charge of a DUI with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent causing injury. If convicted of all charges, he would be eligible for life in prison without parole, officials said at the time.
He is expected to appear in court Aug. 7 for sentencing.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
9 Comments
Am I misunderstand something, or did he plead guilty to two counts of murder?
No he plead no contest on mutual charges but in the eyes of the court a no contest plea is takin as a guilty plea
I think he plead guilty to driving the wrong way. A jury will decide the verdict more than likely.
Yeah, repeat DUI offenders can and are charged with murder if they crash causing the death of someone while drunk.
Katherine Molina
He plead no contest to multiple charges. In the eyes of the courts a no contest plea is takin as a guilty plea
He pleaded no contest.
That’s what he is charged with and he plead no contest, so sounds like guilty to me ☺
He pleaded no contest so now he will be sentenced it says. Saves Our tax dollars not to have a trial! He’s basically saying he doesn’t dispute the charges. As a repeat dui offender now causing death hope they give him harsh penalty. Those families lives are changed forever it’s a sad situation