It took a San Benito County jury about 90 minutes to find Robert
Orabuena guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter Friday.
Orabuena, 41, of Gilroy was found to be partially at fault for
the July 4 accident on Fairview Road that ended with the death of
Joseph Judnick, 48, of Salinas.
According to the way the law is written, if a defendant is found
to be even partially at fault for causing a vehicle accident in
which someone died, he is considered guilty of misdemeanor
vehicular manslaughter.
It took a San Benito County jury about 90 minutes to find Robert Orabuena guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter Friday.
Orabuena, 41, of Gilroy was found to be partially at fault for the July 4 accident on Fairview Road that ended with the death of Joseph Judnick, 48, of Salinas.
According to the way the law is written, if a defendant is found to be even partially at fault for causing a vehicle accident in which someone died, he is considered guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
“We are satisfied with the verdict, under the circumstances,” San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said. “It’s a tragedy that Mr. Judnick was killed.”
Sarsfield applauded the efforts of his deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.
“Denny Wei did a good job. It was a difficult case, but he put in a lot of hard work,” Sarsfield said.
Orabuena’s defense attorney Arthur Cantu said he respects the jury’s decision, although he does not necessarily agree with it.
“It’s really a difficult charge to defeat because even if you are found partially at fault, it’s sufficient to find someone guilty of the misdemeanor charge,” Cantu said.
But Cantu said the defense team had already won two major victories in court when they convinced the judge to dismiss the much more serious felony charges originally filed against Orabuena.
In July, Sarsfield charged Orabuena with second-degree murder and felony vehicular manslaughter. If Orabuena had been convicted of those charges, he could have been sentenced to state prison for 25 years to life.
When Cantu proved in court Orabuena was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, as some crash investigators initially alleged he was, and coupled that with witness statements that he was not driving recklessly at the time of the crash, it took the wind out of most of the prosecution’s case.
All prosecutors were left with were the two misdemeanor charges they took into court Nov. 4.
In Friday’s verdict, the jury found Orabuena not guilty of a second misdemeanor charge – reckless driving resulting in great bodily injury.
“I’m always proud to be a member of the justice system and deliver the facts to help the jury reach a verdict,” Cantu said. “Either it’s in our favor or against us, but all we asked for was a fair hearing.”
As it stands now, Orabuena could be sentenced to a maximum of one year in jail, depending on the judge’s ruling.
However, even Orabuena’s current misdemeanor conviction could be in doubt because Cantu said he is going to petition the court to declare last week’s proceedings a mistrial, which, if granted, would mean the misdemeanor conviction would be thrown out and prosecutors would have the option of re-trying the case or dismissing the charges.
The charges against Orabuena stem from a July 4 crash on Fairview Road near the Spring Grove Road intersection.
The 4:25 p.m. accident happened when Judnick was driving a 2002 Harley-Davidson V-Rod southbound on Fairview Road at an unknown rate of speed, the CHP said.
As Judnick approached the Spring Grove Road intersection, a 1987 Dodge mini-van driven by Robert Orabuena made a left turn directly in front of Judnick, the CHP said.
Orabuena told officers he could see the motorcycle approaching about 300 feet away.
Judnick slammed on his brakes in an attempt to avoid the Dodge but skidded forward and struck the side of the mini-van, the CHP said.
Judnick sustained severe head and body injuries in the collision and was taken by ambulance to Hazel Hawkins Hospital where despite lifesaving efforts, he later died from his injuries, the CHP said.
Cantu was appointed by the court to represent Orabuena after the court disqualified his former attorney, Greg LaForge, for a possible conflict of interest.
LaForge was originally appointed by the court to represent Orabuena because he could not get an attorney on his own.
