Prelim set Friday for ex-con accused of gross vehicular manslaughter
Stephen D. Chiara is charged in the DUI-related crash that killed a Humboldt County investigator
A preliminary hearing will be held Friday for Stephen Duane Chiara, 48, a convicted former hitman charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in a 2019 motorcycle crash that killed a Humboldt County investigator for the Public Defender’s Office.
The defendant — who made his first court appearance in mid-October in Judge William J. Pendergast’s courtroom after months of recuperating from injuries — faces four counts: gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence, DUI causing bodily injury and driving without a license.
He is being represented by Deputy Public Defender Pamela Boskin. Deputy District Attorney Judy A. Ycasas was the last prosecutor of record.
When last in court, Chiara, fully recovered from his injuries, sat in a wheelchair at the defense table. He showed no outward reaction as the proceedings got underway.
According to court records, Chiara was headed east on Interstate 80 near
Green Valley Road in Fairfield on March 27, when he crashed his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. A California Highway Patrol report stated that “for unknown reasons, the driver was unable to maintain control of the motorcycle and both the driver and the female passenger were ejected from the motorcycle.”
According to the DA’s charging documents, Chiara was under the influence of both alcohol and an unspecified drug at the time.
Chiara and his passenger, Mary “Max” Hadley, were taken to NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield with major injuries, and she later died.
Hadley, identified as a resident of both Eureka and Fairfield, worked in the Humboldt County Public Defender’s Office, according to Transparent California.
Chiara was on parole at the time, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. As part of his recent charges, a petition for the revocation of his parole was filed on May 23. He remains in Solano County Jail custody.
In 1991, Chiara, then 20, was arrested in connection with the death of a Fortuna woman, Mary Kesser, after he was found hiding with a sawed-off shotgun in a closet at a residence close to Kesser’s Fortuna home, according to a Eureka Times-Standard report. Kesser was found “beaten and stabbed with a heavy, sharp object,” the newspaper reported in November of that year. Chiara reportedly was hired by Kesser’s husband, who sought to kill her for insurance money.
Chiara was convicted in January 1993. He was paroled to the San Francisco Bay Area in July 2018, according to the CDCR.
A California Highway Patrol report stated that “for unknown reasons, the driver was unable to maintain control of the motorcycle and both the driver and the female passenger were ejected from the motorcycle.”