Updated Monday, July 14 to include additional information pertaining to the case:
The Vallejo man charged with a devastating DUI crash through the Walnut Creek Farmers Market in June of last year accepted a 7 year prison sentence in a plea offer made by Judge John Kennedy over objections from prosecutors and the family of the two women he struck down.
Jose Manuel Chavez, 35, was facing 12 to 14 years in state prison if convicted of multiple charges stemming from the June 2 crash that left a mother and daughter with permanent brain injuries and paralysis.
Chavez, who has been in custody since the day of the crash, accepted the court’s offer and pleaded guilty to all four counts of driving under the influence causing great bodily injury on July 8 – over the objections of prosecutors, the victims, and their relatives made at a hearing before trial. His sentencing was finalized late last week.
The hit and run crash with which Chavez was charged occurred during market setup, around 5:17 am, on Locust Street in Walnut Creek, between Cole and Lacassie Avenues, Chavez’s black Ford Explorer striking vendors Lilian Yang and May Lee – leaving both women comatose and paralyzed with severe brain injuries. Chavez, dressed in a private security jacket and accompanied by another man, was eventually stopped a short distance away. It was not clear what the two men had been doing prior to the crash or if Chavez was working for a security company in the area at the time.
On June 5th, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office filed initial charges against Chavez in Superior Court, amending charges as the case progressed. Chavez was ultimately charged with four felonies, some with enhancements, and one misdemeanor. The complaint included two felony counts of driving under the influence (DUI) causing injury to both victims with enhancements relating to the serious injuries he caused both victims. He was also charged with felony hit and run resulting in serious injury and misdemeanor driving without a valid license after two previous DUI offenses.
That’s too light a sentence for this criminal.
25 to life would be more appropriate.
That’s why I hate the DA in this country.
You should re-read the article. The DA opposed the sentencing. It was the judge.
That doesn’t seem right or fair or just.
What do his victims think of this?
Out in five years? Four years?
Bad ruling. Does not fit crime.
Can a judge do this?
“It was not clear what the two men had been doing prior to the crash or if Chavez was working for a security company in the area at the time.” Simple, they were drinking.
What a horrible incident. Praying for this man’s victims.
7 years is 6.5 more than this perpetrator got for killing a Walnut Creek man with incomprehensibly reckless driving. He infamously deployed the Twinkie defense to persuade 2 jurors in his first trial. https://patch.com/california/lamorinda/no-contest-plea-in-lafayette-vehicular-manslaughter-case