Ex-probation officer to serve a year in jail after deadly hit-and-run crash

A Monterey County probation officer who pleaded no contest to fatally hitting a man with her car and fleeing was ordered to serve one year in jail Wednesday.

Sonia Cano, 36, then an off-duty officer with Monterey County's Probation Department, fled after crashing into Alan Ellis, 52, as he crossed North Main Street Dec. 10. Ellis died from his injuries.

Cano, who had been drinking with friends, then drove away from the crash and turned herself in a few hours later, prosecutors said. In January, she pleaded no contest to felony hit-and-run causing injury or death and misdemeanor driving under the influence.

On Wednesday, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Andrew Liu sentenced Cano to five years probation and one year in-custody. He specified that Cano must serve it in jail and not house arrest or other alternative program.

Prosecutor Scott Lynch pushed for the year in jail, noting that Cano faced the most serious charges they could level under state law because evidence didn't show Cano was at fault in the crash.

Surveillance footage indicated Ellis, who had a blood alcohol level of .24 and marijuana in his system, was nearly hit by several other drivers as he crossed North Main Street, Lynch said.

"Three to four cars had to swerve, stop or take evasive maneuvers to avoid him," Lynch told the court. "... (One driver said) he turned to his passenger and said, 'That man is going to get hit.'"

Liu told the prosecution its charges were appropriate.

"By finding no fault (for Cano), it precludes vehicular manslaughter or felony DUI," Liu said. "... The case could not have been charged any differently."

Cano's attorney, Brian Worthington, asked Liu to sentence her to only probation and home arrest for a year. Her work as a former probation officer showed her "desire to help people repair their lives," he said.

"She has dedicated her entire adult life to serving law enforcement, in particular victims," he said.

Ellis' mother, Edie Ellis, told the court she wanted Cano to remember her son and what she did.

"Alan (Ellis) was my son. He struggled but didn't deserve to be killed," Edie Ellis told the court. She declined to comment after the hearing.

An attorney for the Ellis family asked the judge to require a guilty plea, saying Cano fled the crash in order to cover up how impaired she was.

Worthington said no one knew what was going through Cano's mind following the crash.

"I don't know why she left the scene," he said, adding that everyone's thinking is altered when they're in a state of "panic and fear."

Liu declined to require a guilty plea.

Cano began drinking before noon despite planning to drive afterward, Liu said, based on the Salinas police investigation and a report from Santa Cruz County Probation. Then she purchased a bottle of tequila, which was later found empty in her trunk, he said.

Cano also lied to a friend about the liquor, saying she'd purchased a bottle of water and some gum, Liu said.

In one text message sent at 5:48 p.m., a little more than an hour before the crash, a friend said of Cano, "She's drunk," prosecutors said.

She had also been placed on administrative leave pending the result of an investigation by a different county's probation department, probation officials have said. She resigned Feb. 23, her attorney, Worthington, told Liu.

She also has relinquished her firearm, he said.

As part of her plea, prosecutors dismissed a charge of driving on license that expired while she was still a probation officer.

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