As reported by the Kingman Daily Miner from Arizona, a man that failed to appear to hear a jury find him guilty of several charges involved in a DUI manslaughter case, has had a bench warrant issued for his capture and is believed to be hiding with family in Arizona or California.
D.B., was "absent without permission" when a jury found him guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and three felony DUI. He is now considered a fugitive.
On July 21, D.B. was driving at an undetermined rate of speed when he struck a Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by C.R., age 17. The impact lifted the back of the truck off its rear wheel and broke the transaxle.
An expert witness for the state said that the left side of D.B.'s vehicle hit the passenger side of the truck, which forced the truck to rotate left. The truck then traveled over 700 feet, rolled over, and came to a stop upside down in the road's median.
While C.R.'s passenger was uninjured, as was D.B., the roof above C.R. crushed and damaged his vertebrae and back. C.R., never regaining consciousness and died of his injuries within hours.
The prosecutor said, "This was a horrific collision with a horrific result. And (C.R.'s) family had to watch him die." According to the prosecutor, D.B. was not mildly drunk at the time of the fatality, he was "very drunk and turned his car into an instrument of death."
D.S., a witness of the collision, had told the court she had seen D.B. drive with reckless disregard for over two miles as he headed east on Route 66 between Horizon Boulevard and John L Avenue where the accident occurred.
D.S. watched as D.B. drove both on the shoulder of the road or straight down the middle of the centerline – never once did he adhere to either the left or right eastbound lanes. The defense attorney for D.B. argued that his client didn't commit manslaughter and that C.R. died as a result of a car accident alone.
An expert witness that reconstructed the accident had recounted one single detail – during an interview with law enforcement after the accident D.B. had claimed that it was C.R. that was driving in and out of a turn lane that caused the crash. D.B. was trying to avoid a collision when C.R. veered back into the left but it "was too late."
According to the expert witness, C.R. caused the accident when he drove into D.B.'s path from the right to the left. However, when a juror questioned the witness as to if the same damage could also occur if D.B. had been the one that had driven from left to right the witness answered yes, that could have had the same results.
D.B faces up to a 30-year prison sentence. He had turned down a plea deal that would have allowed him only 15 years in prison.
Whatever your scenario was for being arrested and charged with driving under the influence, contact a DUI attorney for help. A DUI attorney alone best handles charges related to DUI, DWI, OUI or OWI.