A state appeals court panel has ordered a new sentencing hearing for a man convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for a crash that killed an 18-year-old woman in West Covina.
In a ruling Monday, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that a judge erred in imposing the upper term of 10 years in state prison for Gilberto Moralez, now 28, after relying on two aggravating sentencing factors that were not found true by jurors.
The appellate court panel rejected the defense’s challenge involving Moralez’s conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, but reversed his conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol and a drug.
The panel found that jurors were erroneously instructed that they could convict the defendant of that charge by finding that he drove under the influence of only one of those substances.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, a rational juror may have had a reasonable doubt about whether the people proved that Moralez drove under the combined influence of alcohol and marijuana,” the panel found in its 22-page ruling.
The charges stemmed from a May 29, 2021, collision after Moralez — who was driving more than 70 mph when he ran a stop sign at the intersection of Hollenbeck and Vine avenues — collided with a car driven by Welsh, the panel noted.
The young woman was taken to a hospital, where she died from blunt force trauma.
The appellate court panel sent the case back to the trial court for re-sentencing on the gross vehicular manslaughter count, along with a potential retrial on the DUI charge.