Two men were convicted Thursday of gross vehicular manslaughter for a speed contest in Westminster that ended in a crash that killed the sister of one of the racers.
Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes before finding Jorel Dayoan, 22, and Joshua Lautherboren, 26, guilty of the vehicular manslaughter charge, as well as engaging in a speed contest causing injury. Lautherboren was additionally convicted of leaving the scene of the crash.
“It’s a tragic case. The family lost a daughter, the defendant (Dayoan) lost a sister and he was responsible for her death and will live with that forever,” said Lautherboren’s attorney, William Elliott.
Dayoan faces six years and eight months behind bars, and Lautherboren faces four years and eight months in prison, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker. They are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 6.
The defendants, who did not know each other, pulled up to the same intersection at Hoover and Main streets about 5 p.m. on April 5, 2012, according to Walker. Both drivers did “a rapid stop” and then raced southbound down Hoover Avenue, getting up to 75 mph in a 40 mph-zone within a half-mile, she said.
Dayoan lost control of his Toyota MR2 at Hazard Avenue, Walker said, and the car slammed into a northbound Honda Accord driven by Boris Sikar, who broke his collarbone in the collision that killed Dayoan’s 18-year-old sister, Jessica Dayoan.
A witness told investigators that Lautherboren, who was driving a pickup truck, was “flying” before the crash, Walker said. Another witness told investigators the defendants appeared to be racing, she said.
The pickup truck slowed down before the MR2 spun out, and the driver left the scene, Walker said. A witness followed the truck and snapped a photo, which led investigators to Lautherboren, who told customers at a No Limit Motorsports store about the crash and said he thought a “girl” had been killed, she said.
Investigators also obtained video of the crash from Southern California Edison, Walker said.
When Dayoan was pulled from the wreckage, he was wearing a shirt with cars on it, and 25 of 86 photos on his cell phone involved his sports car, the prosecutor said, telling jurors that “he is fixated on cars and racing.”
Lautherboren initially told police he didn’t see the collision, contradicting what he told customers at the auto supply store, Walker said. He said he was angry that Dayoan would not let him change lanes, according to the prosecutor.
When police confronted him with video showing he was driving up to 75 mph, Lautherboren said his speed ranged from 62 to 72, Walker said.
“These two were flooring it,” the prosecutor said.
Dayoan’s attorney, Celeste Mulrooney, said Westminster police did a “very thorough investigation,” but couldn’t prove her client was racing.
“The evidence is going to show an accident. Speeding, yes, but racing, no,” Mulrooney said.
“Continously calling it racing, racing and racing doesn’t make it right,” the defense attorney said. “I’m confident that you will see it as a tragic accident and nothing else.”
Lautherboren, who served in the military in Afghanistan, suffered a traumatic brain injury while in the military and now battles post-traumatic stress disorder, Elliott said.
— City News Service