OAKLAND — A Hayward man will serve one 12 months in jail, along with almost two he has already spent behind bars, after pleading no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter of a pedestrian, court docket data present.
Ivan Lopez-Garcia, 25, pleaded no contest final 12 months to manslaughter within the loss of life of 29-year-old Jim Carlos Sanchez. On Jan. 23, Decide Thomas Nixon sentenced Lopez-Garcia to a 12 months in jail with no credit score for time already served behind bars. As soon as launched, he shall be on probation for 3 years.
It was an open-ended plea deal, giving Decide Nixon a alternative of something from releasing Lopez-Garcia outright to imposing a 10-year jail time period, in accordance with a transcript of the change-of-plea listening to.
On Feb. 5, 2021, Sanchez was strolling to his parked automobile when Lopez-Garcia’s automobile struck him close to the intersection of D and Valley streets in Hayward. Then his automobile continued and acquired right into a second collision, at D and Second streets, the place Lopez-Garcia was arrested. Police mentioned on the time each accidents had been his fault.
At Lopez-Garica’s preliminary listening to final 12 months, an officer testified there was an open tall can of Modelo Especial within the entrance seat cupholder of Lopez-Garcia’s automobile. His legal professional identified the officer arrived 10 minutes after the crash and argued Lopez-Garcia had loads of time to crack open the beer and drink earlier than police acquired there, accounting for his 0.19 blood alcohol content material, which is greater than twice the authorized restrict.
Prosecutors, although, argued that Lopez-Garcia’s unhealthy driving was additional proof he was very drunk. Additionally they pointed to the testimony of a witness who had witnessed Lopez-Garcia stumbling, beer in hand, at his Hayward dwelling earlier within the night.
“Usually, regular folks don’t crash into people getting of their automobile legally parked on the roadway,” Deputy District Lawyer Amanda Chavez mentioned on the preliminary listening to.
Lopez-Garcia was launched after the crash. He was re-arrested in April 2021 when fees had been filed in opposition to him, and he has been in jail since then.