Ex-con accused of gross vehicular manslaughter to face further arraignment
After 90-minute preliminary hearing Friday, a judge orders Stephen D. Chiara, 48, charged with DUI-related crash that killed his fiance, to return to court on Feb. 10
A Solano County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that there was enough evidence to hold for further arraignment a convicted former hitman charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in a March 2019 motorcycle crash in Fairfield that killed his fiance, a Humboldt County investigator for the Public Defender’s Office.
After the 90-minute hearing, Judge William J. Pendergast ordered Stephen Duane Chiara, 48, to return for a held-to-answer proceeding at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 10 in Department 11 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.
Appearing somewhat downcast after the ruling, the defendant — appearing more haggard since a midOctober court appearance after recuperating from serious injuries — faces four counts: gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence, DUI causing bodily injury and driving without a license. Pendergast ticked off each charge when he made his ruling shortly at 3:45 p.m.
In her closing statements, Chiara’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Pamela Boskin, referring to testimony from CHP Officer John Link, who was at the crash scene, questioned whether her client showed negligence at the time of the March 27 crash. She further argued that there was “nothing that correlated” — namely the alleged smell of alcohol emanating from Chiara’s clothing — to her client’s blood-alcohol content, which was tested to be greater than the .08 legal limit, at .013 percent.
Boskin also raised doubts about the two blood samples taken by a phlebotomist contracted with the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, suggesting a mistake may have been made. Additionally, she suggested another vehicle may have spooked Chiara at the time of the 8:45 p.m. crash, which occurred when the defendant was driving his Harley-Davidson motorcycle east on Interstate 80 underneath the Green Valley Road overcrossing and ran into a guard rail.
In response to Boskin’s statements, Deputy District Attorney Susan A. Rados said the case “rests on whether there was another car involved” that contributed to the motorcycle crash in some way.
There was “no evidence that another vehicle” may have been involved, she said, alluding to a statements made by a witness, Andrew Lind of Suisun City, who was interviewed by Link after the crash.
Court records indicate a CHP 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.
While listening to Link testify, Chiara, rested his chin in his unshackled right hand as Link described Hadley’s horrific injuries, a “12- to 16inch cut” to her torso that made some of her internal organs visible, depicted in a photo Rados entered into evidence.
Boskin objected to the graphic photo, saying Link had thoroughly described Hadley’s injuries. Pendergast said he would review the photo and rule later whether the prosecution would be allowed to show it to the jury at trial.
Link then testified that Chiara suffered a compound fracture in the crash and interviewed him at the hospital, where he smelled alcohol on the defendant.
The officer said Chiara told him that he was “traveling at freeway speed and someone cut him off.” Link also noted that Chiara said Hadley was his fiance.
Link also told Rados that a trained CHP investigator, examining the motorcycle, determined that “there was nothing really wrong” with it that would lead to a crash.
In her cross-examination, Boskin noted that roadway was not well-lighted at the time and that a driver of a car or truck may not have observed a motorcycle.
She also got Link to admit that he did not listen to an audio recording of the 911 dispatch call, but he added that Lind indicated that there were no other cars in the immediate roadway area at the time of the crash.
At the time of the crash, Chiara was on parole, 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.
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.
At the time of the crash, Chiara was on parole, 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.
Chiara was convicted in January 1993. He was paroled to the San Francisco Bay Area in July 2018, according to the CDCR.