A jury will now have to decide whether the 20-year-old driver committed murder when he ran over a 3-year-old boy and his parents while they trick-or-treated.
A defense attorney accused the Long Beach city prosecutor of delaying a court hearing in a high-profile drunken driving case, giving investigators more time to interview the suspect, but a judge said authorities did nothing improper.
When a young driver killed a family on Halloween, state regulators say they cracked down on a problem liquor store. But has the woman who let him leave with a bottle of whiskey really been held accountable?
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“The imagery of the SUV striking the family will be forever seared in my mind,” Judge Daniel Lowenthal said after hearing two days of vivid testimony and seeing a short video of the crash.
His decision means the case against 21-year-old Carlo Navarro can proceed to a full trial some time in the future with the most serious charges intact.
Navarro, who was 20 at the time of the crash, is facing three counts of vehicular manslaughter and three counts of murder for the deaths of Joseph Awaida, 30, his wife Raihan Dakhil, 32, and their 3-year-old son, Omar.
The family was walking home from a relative’s Halloween party when an SUV, believed to be going more than 70 mph, jumped the curb and hit them.