The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to hear the case of a drunken driver convicted of causing a crash on the Foothill (210) Freeway in Claremont that killed a Las Vegas resident and left another man injured.
Ryan Munoz of Alhambra is serving a 15-year-to-life state prison sentence for rear-ending a Dodge pickup truck, which was forced onto a raised dirt embankment where it overturned on June 28, 2014. The pickup’s passenger, Gevork Krpikyan, 27, was killed, and the pickup’s driver was injured.
Munoz was convicted in September 2016 of second-degree murder.
A three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld Munoz’s conviction, rejecting the defense’s contention that the trial court had erred in refusing to instruct jurors about any lesser offenses.
Munoz had been convicted in 2012 of DUI and had been warned about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol, the appellate court panel noted in its Jan. 10 ruling.
The appellate justices also rejected the defense’s contention that the trial court erred by not allowing him to contact a juror who wrote two letters to the court discussing the verdict after the trial ended and by allowing jurors to see a photo of Munoz smiling during his arrest.
“Munoz admitted that he was well aware of the hazards of driving while intoxicated, given his earlier conviction for driving under the influence and the subsequent required safety classes. Despite this knowledge, he made the decision to drive after drinking enough to raise his blood alcohol level to two-and-a-half times the legal limit,” the appellate court panel wrote in the January ruling.
The appellate panel noted that “his driving was unquestionably highly dangerous” and that he drove at almost 100 mph.
“In light of this strong evidence of conscious disregard for the lives of others, we do not think it reasonably probable the photograph affected the jury’s verdict,” the ruling says.