Six dead because of DUI drivers.

Six convictions in 14 days.



For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Chloe Gordon’s age and the nature of her guilty plea. Chloe Gordon is 20 and pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter after prosecutors dismissed a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter under the influence of cocaine and marijuana. The San Diego Union-Tribune regrets the error

Separate lives, separate cases, all prosecuted by the District Attorney’s DUI Homicide Unit, created four years ago and led by Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright.

Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 14, the drivers in all six cases either pleaded guilty or were found guilty by a jury of murder or gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.


The victims included pedestrians, other drivers, a tow truck operator and a record-setting cyclist.

“In the span of two weeks, our DUI Homicide Unit brought a measure of justice and resolution to these fatal cases that unnecessarily shattered the lives of the victims’ family and friends,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement.

“So far this year, there have been 12 adult defendants charged with DUI murder or manslaughter, a crime that is 100 percent preventable.”

DUI drivers in the county have killed 15 people and seriously injured eight so far this year. Last year was the worst on record for DUI fatalities, with 25 drivers prosecuted by Bright’s team, the office said.


Bright’s team has about 20 open cases of drivers facing DUI murder or manslaughter charges. Sentences can range as high as life in prison, depending on the driver’s prior record.

Every crash in San Diego County ending with a death and a drug or alcohol DUI arrest is evaluated for DUI murder charges, Bright said in an email.

She added, “law enforcement agencies are using every available resource to investigate these offenses as homicide cases.”

Her unit of experienced prosecutors and investigators who are experts in collision reconstruction handle each step of the case from beginning to end.


This month’s convictions were:

Marco Antonio Pastor, 31. On Aug. 1, a jury in a re-trial found him guilty of second-degree murder for an Oct. 12, 2015 head-on crash that killed Joseph Howard Crews, 77, on East Mission Road in Oceanside. Pastor had two prior DUI convictions. He faces 15 years to life in prison.

Ricardo Vargas, 33, pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for a March 27 crash on state Route 78 that killed his passenger, Martha Zulema Martinez Arambula. He faces six years in prison.

Felix Ruiz Bazan, 26, pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for being under the influence of meth when he veered into a bike lane on state Route 76 in Oceanside on Aug. 31, 2017, killing record-setting endurance cyclist Paul Cornish, 70. Bazan has agreed to a 10-year prison sentence.

Chloe Gordon, 20, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to gross vehicular manslaughter for speeding and crashing her own SUV on state Route 15 on May 8, 2017. Another driver, Chi Ho Michael Lee, 42, smashed into the SUV and died. Gordon faces four years in prison.

Michael Gray, 50, pleaded guilty on Aug. 9, the day of trial, to second-degree murder with two serious felony priors. He killed tow truck operator Fred Griffith, 55, on the shoulder of state Route 52 near Santee in a hit-and-run on Feb. 23, 2017. He has three DUI priors and faces 25 years to life in prison.

Joshua Ness, 33, pleaded guilty Aug. 14 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the hit-and-run death of Michael O’Rourke as he walked across East Second Street in El Cajon on Oct. 10, 2017. He will receive a stipulated 15-year sentence.


pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepard