Santa Cruz
– Antoinette Soliz, the Hollister mother being held in
connection with the drunken driving crash that killed her
4-year-old daughter, will be allowed to attend the girl’s funeral
on Saturday, accompanied by armed deputies.
Santa Cruz – Antoinette Soliz, the Hollister mother being held in connection with the drunken driving crash that killed her 4-year-old daughter, will be allowed to attend the girl’s funeral on Saturday, accompanied by armed deputies.
During a brief court appearance Wednesday morning, Soliz’s attorney, Wesley Schroeder, asked Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Samuel Stevens to allow his client to attend her daughter Jasmine Arroyo’s funeral.
Jasmine was killed in a Jan. 29 crash on Highway 1 and will be interred Saturday at Calvary Cemetery on Hillcrest Road in Hollister.
“As I understand this, the people have no objections,” Stevens said to the court.
Approximately 20 family members and friends of Soliz were present at the hearing. After Stevens announced his decision, one family member clapped in court. Soliz heard the decision, wearing red prison garb, and did not react.
Several family members and friends shed tears when they exited the court room, and hugged each other in the hallway.
Schroeder said Ariadne Symons, chief deputy district attorney of Santa Cruz County, was instrumental in securing the permission for Soliz to attend the funeral.
“I think it’s fair to say the government does retain some aspects of humanity,” Symons said.
Symons added that it is important to allow Soliz closure by attending the funeral. But Symons stipulated that Soliz be in the custody of deputies escorting her to the funeral and that she not be allowed to consume alcohol.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Craig Wilson and chief deputy Len Lofano attended the hearing Wednesday morning for the sheriff’s office.
“We’ll have two armed deputy sheriffs,” Lofano said. “We’ll provide the security and the custody for her.”
Wilson would not say exactly what distance the two deputies would stay from Soliz, but indicated that the sheriff’s office is neutral and would only seek to keep her in custody.
“Just close enough to prevent some type of escape,” Wilson said.
He added that although it does not happen all the time, the sheriff’s office has provided such an escort in the past.
“The taxpayers don’t pay for this,” Wilson said. “The family will be paying all the costs for security detail.”
Schroeder said his client is extremely sad about the event that took her daughter’s life. He said he appreciated Symons’ sensitivity to his client’s need for closure.
“It’s a terrible ordeal that she’s going through,” Schroeder said. “She’s experiencing this and it’s pretty raw.”
The CHP is continuing to piece together the details of the 1:20am Jan. 29 crash that killed Jasmine Arroyo and seriously injured seven others. Soliz’s 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, which was crowded with two other adults and seven children, slammed into the center guardrail 10 miles south of Santa Cruz on Highway 1 and rolled numerous times, the CHP said.
“We have an idea but we haven’t finished interviewing all the others involved yet,” Boles said.
Family members and friends were unwilling to comment Wednesday at the Santa Cruz County Superior Court.
“I think they would rather have me speak,” Schroeder said.
Soliz faces one count of vehicular manslaughter, seven felony counts of inflicting great bodily injury, five counts of felony child abuse and one count of driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor.
Soliz has not entered a plea to any of the charges and is being held at the Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $1,750,000 in bail. She will be in Santa Cruz County Superior Court again Feb. 15 for an arraignment.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
