Two state lawmakers joined Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer Tuesday at an annual victims’ rights rally in calling for stricter penalties for impaired drivers.
State Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Norwalk, and Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, touted legislation that would crack down on drivers who get behind the wheel impaired by drugs or alcohol.
Archuleta spoke of how his 30-year-old granddaughter was killed a couple of days before Christmas in 2024 in a collision with an alleged wrong-way, impaired driver in Victorville.
“I’m glad Orange County is taking the lead” in the push for stricter punishments for impaired drivers, Archuleta said.
“We’re here to combat drunken driving and an acknowledgment it is an epidemic,” Archuleta said. “We’ve got to put people behind bars and keep them there.”
The state senator recalled “the longest drive of my life” as he raced to be with family in Victorville after the crash.
“They couldn’t even recognize her,” he said. “They had to use a fingerprint (to identify the victim).”
His granddaughter had just earned a master’s degree and was starting a career as a social worker when she was killed, he said.
“This could happen to any family, to any one of us at any time,” he said. “We have to fight to change the laws in California.”
The senator’s bill would allow judges to hand down consecutive sentences in gross vehicular manslaughter cases with multiple fatalities. It would also enhance punishment for repeat DUI offenders as well as hit-and-run drivers who kill a victim.
Archuleta noted how drivers convicted of DUI are given a “Watson” advisement that they face an upgraded charge from manslaughter to second-degree murder if they kill someone in a DUI crash. Those drivers, he argued, have an incentive to flee a crash scene to avoid the murder charge.
“They understand the benefits of running away from the crime,” Archuleta said.
If the driver can sober up before being caught then they face a much lighter punishment if convicted, he said.
“This is not a partisan issue, it’s a California issue, a family issue,” he said.
Lackey, a retired California Highway Patrol sergeant, recalled how often he was tasked with relaying the bad news of a crash fatality.
“I’ve had to tell 40 families their loved one isn’t coming home,” he said. “I relate to this in a very personal way.”
Lackey is sponsoring a bill that would increase the risk of losing driving privileges due to a conviction for vehicular manslaughter. He also wants a repeat DUI driver to face a felony after a second conviction within 10 years instead of the current standard of four convictions.
Lackey is also pushing for legislation that would revoke a license for eight years instead of three years after a third DUI.
Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Laguna Beach, is behind legislation to require interlock ignition devices for even first-time DUI offenders.
Lackey said there is growing optimism that the legislation will face fewer hurdles than in the past.
“We’re finally seeing a bipartisan effort,” he said. “I’ve never seen that kind of energy.”
Spitzer was skeptical, however.
“I am pleased and enchanted we have legislators” at the annual rally, Spitzer said, adding he was heartened at their optimism. “But I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Spitzer, who also had a long career as a legislator in Sacramento.
Spitzer said he believes politicians would be more favorable to crackdowns on impaired driving if they heard the testimonials of the victims at Tuesday’s gathering.
“This is about a feeling,” he said. “It’s not all about an intellectual pursuit.”
Spitzer recalled his own “long drive” after hearing his son was rear-ended by an allegedly impaired driver in Costa Mesa.
“My son was OK,” he said. “But that drive from Orange to Costa Mesa was long.”
Spitzer said he was encouraged by the testimonial of Deputy District Attorney Justin Sanchez, who told of how he was inspired to become a prosecutor following the death of his grandmother, Amparo Lopez, in a DUI crash. Edward James Nani was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the March 31, 2018, crash on Ortega (74) Highway in San Juan Capistrano.
Sanchez said he was holding his breath and his knuckles were white gripping a seat as the defendant began testifying on his behalf in his trial.
“I waited years to hear this man,” Sanchez said. “I wanted to know if he was sorry. … (but) all he had to say was… It was just life and he’s not a bad guy,” Sanchez said.
“I felt helpless hearing that man say those things,” he said.
But when Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman began his cross-examination of the witness, Sanchez said he felt empowered.
“The first question he had was, `Do you remember the name of the woman you killed,”’ Sanchez said. “It was the first time in years I didn’t feel helpless … The District Attorney’s Office was doing something about it.”
Sanchez now is prosecuting impaired drivers, but he recalled another defining moment when he lost his first trial. He was arguing with the police officer who made the arrest after the trial about what went wrong when he told the officer how personal this all was for him. The officer, he said, told him he had been a first responder to the crash that killed the prosecutor’s grandmother.
“He said, `I was there with her that night,’ ” Sanchez said.
It reminded him how important a role law enforcement plays in seeking justice for victims, he said.