Driver gets year in jogger death
SAN JOSE — A young driver who authorities say was speeding down Yerba Buena Road, got into a crash and ended up killing a jogger more than two years ago has been sentenced to a year in county jail.
Gabriel Becerra Esparza, of San Jose, was issued the sentence Monday in the Jan. 26, 2015 death of 24-year-old Kiran Pabla, following his no-contest plea in March to a charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and causing great bodily injury. He was also ordered to serve three years’ probation and to perform 300 hours of community service.
“He felt extremely sorrowful for the family’s loss of their daughter,” said Richard Pointer, Becerra’s attorney. “It was a tragedy all the way around.”
Pabla was jogging along Yerba Buena Road that morning when the then18-year-old Becerra and a BMW collided, sending Becerra’s Nissan Altima careening off the roadway and pinning Pabla against a tree less than a mile from both her home and alma mater, Silver Creek High School.
The second driver, San Jose resident Manuel Anthony Maldonado Avalos, was acquitted after a jury trial last month.
Both men were charged with the same crime, and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office still considers them “equally culpable,” prosecutor Tamalca Harris said. Police initially purported that the two men may have been in an impromptu street race, but that theory was not allowed to be presented in court.
Maldonado’s attorney, Steven Nakano, said that expert analysis did not support the idea that his client was either speeding or racing with Becerra.
“It took the jury a little over three hours to decide there was not sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Maldonado,” Nakano said. “He did not cause the accident. Mr. Becerra caused the accident.”
Pointer echoed the fact that authorities’ initial street-racing theory was not substantiated.
He said his client Becerra was an inexperienced driver — having had his license for three months — but was traveling close to 70 mph on the downhill stretch of road, and took responsibility for the crash.
Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman said Becerra’s punishment was within prescribed sentencing guidelines, particularly since he had no intent to kill, was not driving impaired, admitted guilt and expressed remorse.
“Given those factors, this sentence is in line with other crimes of this nature,” Harman said. “Kiran was this beautiful vibrant person and she is dead because of Mr. Becerra. I imagine that the family must feel some degree of frustration because the sentence doesn’t feel appropriate given the fact that he took this bright light away from them.”
Pabla’s death also reshone a spotlight on a chronic speeding problem on the 1-mile stretch of Yerba Buena Road marked by a steep westbound descent and uninterrupted by traffic lights or stop signs. Since the deadly crash, traffic-calming measures have been installed on the roadway, particularly tactile rumble strips to induce slower speeds.