No contest plea in hit-and-run case

Defendant was on run when he hit kids, DA says

A jury trial for a San Jose man accused of a hit-and-run crash that injured three children in Vacaville last year ended abruptly in a plea agreement Tuesday.

Wesley Murray, 32, appeared in Solano County Superior Court for the start of a jury trial in connection with a Jan. 19, 2014, crash in Vacaville that injured three children. Murray was accused of fleeing the scene of the accident in a stolen vehicle before being apprehended in another county hours later.

Solano County prosecutors, who waited nearly a year for Murray to be transferred to Solano County after his arrest, had charged him with felony hit-and-run, child endangerment and vehicle theft with a prior conviction.

On Tuesday, as jury selection was set to begin, Murray pleaded no contest to felony hit-andrun and vehicle theft. He could face up to four years, eight months in state prison when he returns for sentencing Oct. 23.

The afternoon of the incident, Vacaville police and paramedics were dispatched to Monticello Court. It was there that three children, ages 6, 7 and 9, were playing in the cul-de-sac when a white Chevrolet truck with Arizona plates drove through and struck them. Two of the children were taken by ambulance to a trauma center while the third child was flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Witnesses said the truck sped from the scene. Officers scoured the area but were unable to locate the suspect vehicle.

Later, authorities received information that the suspect, identified as Murray, had checked into a motel in Dunnigan. Yolo County Sheriff’s deputies took Murray into custody there and delivered him to Yolo County Jail where he was held on multiple arrest warrants.