An Anaheim man was convicted Thursday of vehicular manslaughter in a non-jury trial and was immediately sentenced to more than nine years in prison for a crash in Buena Park that killed two of his friends.
Ryan Manuel Hernandez, 24, was convicted of two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett also found true sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury but did not apply them to Hernandez’s sentence. The judge, however, did take into account Hernandez’s 2007 robbery conviction — a strike that doubled his punishment to the maximum sentence of nine years and four months in prison.
Hernandez — who registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 after the Feb. 10, 2012, crash — was drinking for a friend’s 24th birthday at Slidebar Rock ‘n’ Roll Kitchen in Fullerton, then got behind the wheel of his Honda Civic, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker.
Hernandez was driving on La Mirada Boulevard about 2 a.m. when he struck a raised median while switching lanes and lost control of the compact car, which slammed into a light pole at Alonda Boulevard, Walker said.
The crash killed backseat passengers Everado Zuniga and Jose Hernandez, both 22. The defendant is not related to Jose Hernandez.
Ryan Hernandez sprained his arm while 24-year-old Jose Zuniga, the front-seat passenger who was celebrating his birthday that night, escaped injury. The Zunigas were cousins.
Jose Hernandez’s mother, Martina, told Prickett before sentencing that her son’s death “changed my life forever.”
“My life will no longer be the same. The pain that the defendant Ryan has caused me is the worst pain a human being could go through,” she said. “The motivation to achieve my goals I once had are gone. I seldom laugh and enjoy life… The defendant has taken everything I love in this world, my only son.”
Ryan Hernandez apologized in court, saying he was “deeply sorry.”
He said Jose Hernandez was “one of my best friends… (and) I do blame myself for what happened.”
The defendant said he still questions why he survived.
“I ask God every day why them and not me?” Ryan Hernandez said. “… I was really close to the victims. They were the only friends who gave me support to change.”
Hernandez said his friends would give him gas money to make sure he made it to his college classes.
“At first I couldn’t take it, but then I said at least let me wash your mom’s car to pay it back,” Ryan Hernandez said.
He said he plans to continue his education when he is released from prison.
“When I get out, everything I do will be in the name of my best friend,” he said. “They didn’t deserve it and I take responsibility for what happened.”
Hernandez was given credit for serving 1,960 days in custody.
— City News Service