On the Fourth of July, Robert Orabuena of Gilroy witnessed a
life taken tragically before his eyes. Now he’s watching
bewilderedly as powers that be try to take away his life, and he
can’t stop asking,
”
Why?
”
Why did he spend more than a month in jail charged with
second-degree murder for a fatal traffic accident he didn’t
cause?
On the Fourth of July, Robert Orabuena of Gilroy witnessed a life taken tragically before his eyes. Now he’s watching bewilderedly as powers that be try to take away his life, and he can’t stop asking, “Why?”
Why did he spend more than a month in jail charged with second-degree murder for a fatal traffic accident he didn’t cause? Why did a California Highway Patrol “Drug Recognition Expert” insist Orabuena was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident when three subsequent blood tests have shown no illegal drugs were in his system? Why is he being treated differently than the Caucasian high school teacher involved in a similar accident in San Benito County eight months ago?
Those questions, along with dozens more, have plagued the 41-year-old Orabuena’s shattered life since he was arrested the afternoon of July 4 following the fatal accident on a San Benito County roadway.
Traveling north on Fairview Road, a two-lane roadway with a 55-mph speed limit, that day, Orabuena attempted to make a left turn across the single yellow line into a friend’s driveway. As he made the turn in his Dodge minivan, Salinas resident Joseph Judnick, driving southbound on a 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, collided with Orabuena’s van.
Judnick, 48, suffered major head and body injuries and died almost immediately, despite attempts by Orabuena and several other passing pedestrians to administer CPR.
Upon arriving at the scene, CHP officers interviewed Orabuena and asked him if he’d been drinking or using drugs. He said he had not and was asked to pass several sobriety tests.
Although a series of blood tests would later confirm that Orabuena was sober at the time of the accident, he was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana, and charged with second-degree murder and gross-vehicular manslaughter, among other offenses.
Bail was set at $1 million – meaning $100,000 needed to be paid to get him out of San Benito County Jail – and Orabuena faced 25 years to life in prison.
“It was a nightmare. It was very confusing to me,” said Orabuena, who spent 36 days in jail before county prosecutors reduced the murder charges against him to felony gross vehicular manslaughter following the results of a third blood test showing no trace of illegal drugs in his system. The first test revealing Orabuena’s sobriety was shown to prosecutors within four days of the accident, but under state law, the district attorney’s office can wait for follow up tests before editing charges.
“I was away from my wife and son,” Orabuena said. “Everyone was telling me they read about me in the newspaper. They all thought I did something very wrong. There was a very dark cloud over me that got worse every day. I feel very bad for what happened, but I know I did nothing wrong.”
Following the reduction in charges, Orabuena’s bail was reduced to $30,000, and on Aug. 8, he was finally able to return to his Festo Aglio Court home in Gilroy he built and shares with his wife Yvette and 1-year-old son. He says his life remains in shambles after learning he’d been laid off from his job laying fiber optics for Charter Cable because of his incarceration.
Finally a free man – for now – Orabuena and his new court-appointed attorney Arthur Cantu are asking the San Benito County District Attorney to drop all charges, citing a shoddy CHP investigation, racism and political grandstanding by the prosecution.
Cantu said his investigations show that Judnick was speeding on the borrowed motorcycle before the high-impact collision, and that Orabuena should never have been charged with causing the accident.
Two separate CHP investigations concluded that Orabuena was at fault in the accident, although test results on the speed of Judnick’s motorcycle will not be available for another few weeks, according to CHP spokesperson Terry Mayes.
“Our conclusion that Orabuena caused the collision has not changed,” she said. “At this time, we do not have information on (Judnick’s) speed.”
If convicted of felony gross vehicular manslaughter, and a long list of misdemeanors including vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance, Orabuena could spend 15 years in prison. The sentence maximum is double normal standards because it would be Orabuena’s second felony conviction. In 1994, he was convicted of felony battery, Cantu said.
Contrary to previous reports, Orabuena has never been convicted of vehicular manslaughter, according to court records.
“To charge my client with a felony is completely out of line with all reason,” Cantu said.
Cantu claims the prosecution’s aggressive charges are race and political based.
For proof, he points to the case of San Benito High School teacher Bill Johnson. In November Johnson, who is Caucasian, “cut a deal” with the district attorney’s office to plead no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter following an accident in which his wife was killed while he was driving under the influence of alcohol.
In December, Johnson was sentenced to 120 days house arrest and five years probation.
“This is a Caucasian man, highly educated, and he’s drinking and driving,” Cantu said. “He gets slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor. My client, who is Hispanic and not well educated, is sober, and they’re going for the throat. That’s not how justice works.”
Cantu believes San Benito County DA John Sarsfield, who took over as county’s prosecutor Jan. 1, is pushing for an aggressive prosecution of Orabuena because Orabuena is an easy target and Sarsfield wants to use him as an example. He also said that is the reason Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders removed Orabuena’s original attorney Greg LaForge from the case.
Sanders reasoned that LaForge was a former member of the county’s DA office, and once prosecuted Orabuena, therefore held a conflict of interest in the case.
Cantu said the reason for the dismissal was because LaForge, now a member of the public defender’s office, is known as the best attorney in Hollister.
Sanders has since also been removed from the case, per Orabuena’s request.
“It is hard to compare (the Johnson) case to any current case,” said Denny Wei, the deputy DA prosecuting Orabuena’s case. “We have a new administration now that takes the death of someone very seriously. … Based on the facts, we believe Mr. Orabuena committed a felony.”
Unless Cantu can convince prosecutors to drop the charges against Orabuena, it could be a long court battle ahead, and an even longer battle to get his life back.
“The scary thing about an accident like this is that it could happen to anyone,” said Serena Potter, Orabuena’s neighbor who has written letters of recommendation on Orabuena’s behalf to the San Benito County DA’s office and both of Orabuena’s judges. She’s also been in contact with the League of Latin American Citizens which has promised to campaign on Orabuena’s behalf.
“It’s obvious that if me or my husband would’ve been in this same accident, we wouldn’t be treated the way Robert has,” said Potter, who told stories of Orabuena’s donation of free labor and construction knowledge to help her and her husband build their back porch and patio. “We’re Caucasian, we have a better education. Robert’s an easy target for them, and it’s not right what they’re doing to him and his family over an accident.”
As for Orabuena, he believes he’s paid enough.
“I feel bad about everything, of course. I wish the man was still alive,” a teary-eyed Orabuena said Wednesday afternoon from his attorney’s office. “It is very dark for me right now.
“I don’t know if I trust this justice here, but I believe in my church and in God, and I think it will get light again.”
Orabuena’s next court date is Aug. 20.
Zeb Carabello is a staff writer with The Dispatch in Gilroy. Free Lance Assistant Editor Jed Logan contributed to this story.
