Facing DUI charge, Benicia cop likely to plead guilty
A Benicia police officer facing a 2019 misdemeanor DUI charge stemming from an off-duty collision in a Benicia bar parking lot from which he allegedly fled will return to a Vallejo courtroom for a rescheduled change-of-plea hearing early next year.
It is unclear from court records what Alejandro Antonio Maravilla, 29, will plead to when he appears in front of Commissioner Robert Q. Warshawsky at 10 a.m. Feb. 4 in Department 21 in the Justice Building. Maravilla, who was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, also is scheduled for a pretrial conference at that time.
On Tuesday his defense attorney, Curtis Boyd, confirmed his client’s scheduled change of plea, which, in such cases, he agreed, typically suggests a defendant will plead guilty.
Maravilla is accused of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit, .08 percent, according to a California Highway Patrol arrest report.
During previous proceedings, he pleaded not guilty.
Maravilla was cited and arrested for DUI at 12:55 a.m. Sept. 29 after initially fleeing but later returning to a Benicia gas station, where he was interviewed by a CHP officer and submitted to a field sobriety test.
While the arrest seems straightforward, details that led up to it raise questions about the charges that the Solano County District Attorney eventually filed about a week later, on Oct. 7.
According to the investigation report, CHP Officer Daniel R. Butolph arrived at 12:30 a.m. at the gas station at East Fifth and Vencino after receiving a call from Benicia police Sgt. Mark Hassler. The sergeant is said to have told him that a Benicia police officer had been involved “in a series of traffic collisions” and was suspected of DUI.
Maravilla, who lives in Vacaville, was at the gas station when Butolph arrived. Butolph reported that he detected “a strong odor” of alcohol on the suspect’s breath and saw that his eyes were “bloodshot and watery.”
Butolph saw that Maravilla’s vehicle had “major” front-end damage and “minor” damage to the rear bumper. While he spoke with Maravilla, the CHP officer noticed the suspect’s speech was “slow and slurred,” his behavior “cooperative.”
Adhering to standard protocol, Butolph then began asking pre-sobriety test questions. Maravilla told him that he had been drinking beer at The Loft, a Benicia bar on First Street, then drove to the Bottom of the Fifth bar, in the 400 block of Military East, and drank two more beers. He said he stopped drinking at 10 p.m.
When Maravilla left the Bottom of the Fifth, he backed into a car owned by Andrew R. Z. Contreras, 31 at the time, a bar employee who reportedly witnessed the collision and tried to get Maravilla’s attention.
But Maravilla left the parking lot at about 11:15 p.m. and proceeded to drive on eastbound Interstate 780, according to the report. Later, the officer is reported to have told Butolph that he “worried about possibly being involved in the collision and was afraid his vehicle may be called in as a hit and run suspect.”
But that was after Contreras said he pursued Maravilla, called 911, and began a freeway chase in his Dodge Ram pickup truck, at times reaching speeds of around 90 mph on eastbound I-780. He said he saw Maravilla “weaving back and forth” before Maravilla exited the freeway.
Maravilla then took a CalTrans dirt “transition” road connecting east and westbound I-780 and hit a dirt mound, severely damaging the front end of his SUV. He then drove back to the gas station, where he was eventually cited and arrested.
During the field sobriety test, Maravilla swayed “from side to side” during a one-leg stand and failed the walk-and-turn test, missing heel-to-toe contact, the report stated. A breath test revealed that Maravilla’s blood- alcohol content exceeded the legal limit, according to the report. Butolph then placed Maravilla under arrest and took him to the Solano Area CHP Office, where, at 2:30 a.m., he was released to someone who agreed take custody of him.
The report indicated that Maravilla was not advised of his Miranda rights and did not agree to a blood draw. He also was not told of the socalled “Watson Advisement,” that stipulates that if he continued to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and killed someone, he could face murder charges.
Asked to comment on the case, including a question about why Maravilla was charged with a misdemeanor instead of a felony, Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams said her office does not comment on pending legal cases.
Boyd, however, DUI’s are typically misdemeanors “unless there’s an injury.”
It is unclear if Maravilla has any prior arrests, but the DA’s office has provided his RAP sheet.
First-time citations for DUI are regarded as “wobblers,” meaning they could be filed as a felony or misdemeanor, but they typically are prosecuted as misdemeanors when there is no major property damage or injuries to a person.
Abrams also did not respond to an inquiry of how, if at all, Maravilla’s DUI arrest may affect his involvement in court cases in which he serves as a witness when his testimony could possibly be questioned by defense attorneys.
Maravilla is still on duty with the Benicia Police Department and at one time received recognition from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In 2016, he also was honored by the department with a First Responder of the Year award.