My News LA reports that the trial of a 29-year-old man with previous DUI convictions began last week.
Court documents indicate that Nicolas Linley Sanchez-McCormick has been charged with second-degree murder and DUI for his role in a fatal crash in April of 2017.
Prosecutors say mere hours after taking a court-mandated class on the dangers of drinking and driving, Sanchez-McCormick blew through a red light at the intersection of Katella Avenue and Valley View Drive in Cypress in his 2005 Chevy Malibu Classic.
Investigators found that Sanchez-McCormick had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit before causing a multi-car crash involving a Ford Fusion and a Chevy Silverado pickup truck.
Sanchez-McCormick’s girlfriend, who was with him in the vehicle then, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sanchez-McCormick is also facing sentencing enhancements for murder rather than manslaughter because of his previous DUI convictions and for committing an offense while out on bail for vandalism.
“This is a case of every parent’s worst nightmare, and for one family on Easter, that nightmare became a reality,” Deputy District Attorney Devin Campbell said in a statement.
He went on to describe that because the victim was Sanchez-McCormick’s girlfriend, the level of his intoxication, and the defendant’s previous DUI convictions only compounded the tragedy for the young woman’s family.
“He didn’t care one bit, and what you would expect to happen happened,” Campbell said.
