In California, there are sentence enhancements for DUI. It is an extra penalty that is added on top of the customary penalties for DUI. The most important sentence enhancement relates to prior DUI convictions. Previous DUIs and other circumstances can lead to enhanced penalties for DUIs. While there are a number of sentencing enhancements for DUI, some are more common than others. One of these is if the DUI causes an injury to another person. Generally, a DUI that results in an injury is charged as a felony, especially if the injuries are serious. The penalties include increased jail time, increased license suspension time, longer mandatory DUI school, and the possibility of being ordered to pay restitution.
The Banning-Beaumont Patch reports that a man accused of killing his passenger in an alleged DUI crash is to stand trial.
25-year-old Brandon Todd Brassard is accused of killing his passenger, 23-year-old Timothy Gibbons in March of 2018.
At a preliminary hearing, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst ruled that there was sufficient evidence for Brassard to stand trial. The charges against Brassard include second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, two counts of DUI causing injury, and a sentence enhancing allegation of DUI causing great bodily injury.
According to Hemet Police, Brassard was driving a Ford Focus on the night of March 22, 2018, when he plowed into a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck as he traveled through the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Soboba Street.
Gibbons was a front seat passenger in Brassard’s vehicle. He was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries an hour later. Two people in the pickup truck were also injured and hospitalized. They have since recovered.
Brassard has multiple prior traffic-related offenses, but no felony convictions. He was released on a $1 million bond.
