Man sentenced in distracted driving/manslaughter case
There were tear-filled eyes on both sides of the spectators section in a Sutter County Superior Court courtroom as the sentencing of a Live Oak man concluded Friday.
Omer Daraz Gorsi, 24, was sentenced to three years probation and one year in Sutter County Jail after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter. Stephanie Gonzalez, 12, of Wheatland was killed in the five-car collision caused by Gorsi texting while driving. The driver of the car Gonzalez was in, Jorge Yanez, 31, and passenger Erica Vargas, 33, both of Yuba City, were hospitalized with major injuries.
On June 30, 2019, Gorsi was driving his Ford F-250 on Highway 99, south of Clark Road at around 55 mph and came up behind an Acura
Integra going 15 mph due to traffic. Because he was distracted, Gorsi crashed into the Acura, setting off a five-car collision, which ejected Gorsi and Gonzalez. Drivers of the three other cars involved either sustained minor injuries or were uninjured.
Charges were filed against Gorsi in February.
Gorsi entered into a “straightup” plea deal on Aug. 28, meaning no agreement had been made with the district attorney’s office about the length of his sentence. Instead, Judge David Ashby was the one deciding the sentence. Before ruling, Deputy District Attorney Diego Heimlich submitted six pages of photographs for Ashby to look over and Gonzalez’s mother and father addressed the court via an interpreter.
Arsenio Nicholas Gonzalez
first spoke with one of his daughter’s on his lap. He said his younger daughter had not spoken since Stephanie’s death.
“She was her hero, and she’s not here anymore,” he said via the Spanish interpreter. “... Nothing’s ever going to be the same.”
Gonzalez said he lost mobility in half of his face soon after burying his daughter due to stress.
The victim’s mother Yuset Gonzalez next spoke while holding one daughter and having another sit on her lap.
“I am here because I am seeking justice for Stephanie,” she said via the interpreter. “... We will live with this pain eternally.”
Gonzalez became emotional at different points during her statement. Next, the interpreter read statements from two of the people injured in the crash including Yanez. He described being in a coma for a week and spending a month in the hospital. Yanez needed brain surgery, suffered from memory loss, now requires almost constant care and may never make a full recovery. Yanez was close with the Gonzalez family.
“The pain I am feeling in my heart will never heal,” the interpreter read from Yanez’s statement.
Throughout the victim impact statements, Gorsi looked down at the table, hands clasped together.
Heimlich asked the court to follow the probation department’s recommendation and sentence Gorsi to four years in state prison. He pointed out that even before the accident, Gorsi was arrested two months prior in Yolo County for driving under the influence. Heimlich said that arrest should have been a wake up call for Gorsi. In addition, Heimlich said the court could use this sentence as a way to deter others from engaging in distracted driving.
“This has become an epidemic that puts people at risk.” Heimlich said. “... This case should serve as a warning to people in our community.”
Gorsi’s attorney Michael Barrette read a statement written by Gorsi addressed to Ashby and the Gonzalez family. It mentioned the struggle he had gone through over the last year dealing with his actions and said he sympathized with the Gonzalez’s because his father and brother had passed away in the last few years. Gorsi operates Gorsi
Brothers – a farm labor business in Live Oak with around 300 employees – and said he is a provider for his family. As Barrette read, Gorsi started sobbing and Barrette became emotional at multiple points.
“I will always be haunted by what I did,” Barrette read from Gorsi’s statement. “...I hate myself more than you ever could.”
Barrette argued that the crash was an accident that would not have been considered a crime if not for someone being killed. He said everyone at one time has done something while driving that may have been distracting that didn’t result in an accident. Barrette said if given a chance on probation, Gorsi would not be a danger to the community.
“The defendant has certainly learned his lesson,” Barrette said.
He also mentioned the hundreds of letters written in support of Gorsi and at least a hundred people who came to the courthouse to support Gorsi. The letters spoke to Gorsi’s character and his status in the community, according to Barrette.
“I saw a man that everyone in this community looks up to,” Barrette said.
Barrette closed by asking Ashby to sentence Gorsi to probation and if not sentence him to no more than two years in prison.
“He’s the victim of an unfortunate accident,” Barrette said. “... He will die in there (prison). They will kill him.”
Ashby said that factors against Gorsi getting probation did not outweigh the factors for giving him probation and placed him on three years probation. However, he did sentence Gorsi to one year in Sutter
County Jail with credit for 61 days already served from a previous case. Ashby reminded Gorsi and those in attendance that if he violates probation, Gorsi would face six years in prison.
“Time will tell whether he has learned his lesson,” Ashby said.
Ashby ordered approximately $20,000 in victim restitution. A hearing was scheduled for Dec. 4 about whether Gorsi would have to pay restitution for the medical expenses of Yanez, which totaled $70,000.
Barrette asked for a work release program so that Gorsi could run his business during the day and return to jail in the evenings. Ashby denied the request and Gorsi was placed in handcuffs in the courtroom and led away by sheriff ’s office personnel to be taken to jail.