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DUI driver convicted of manslaughter in fatal Nipomo crash
December 15, 2020
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
A Santa Maria man who drove the wrong way while intoxicated, causing a crash in Nipomo that killed an 82-year-old woman, managed to evade a second-degree murder conviction after a single juror held out from finding him guilty on Monday.
The San Luis Obispo jury split 11-1 in favor of convicting Edgar Saul Rojas Morales, 25, of second-degree murder. The jury did, however, convict Morales of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving on a suspended license.
Morales faces a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison, because of prior convictions.
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Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, on the other hand, is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, in the driving of a vehicle, where the driving was under the influence, and the killing was either the result of an unlawful act, like a traffic violation.
The verdict is the second time within a week that a San Luis Obispo County jury could not agree on an “implied malice” murder conviction in a DUI-related murder trial.
On Thursday, jurors found Chelsea AnnMarie Stiles guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter after splitting 11-1 on the murder count for a December 2019 crash that killed another motorist.