Home › Crime, Courts & Public Safety › Courts
Man gets three years for fatal collision
Wrong-way driver killed pair in 2005
Download this story as a podcast!
STORY TOOLS 
More from CourtsA judge this week sentenced a wrong-way driver to three years and four months in prison in connection with a 2005 collision in Oxnard that killed two Fillmore residents.
Kenny Geovany Vega had pleaded guilty last month to two counts of felony vehicle manslaughter with gross negligence.
Prosecutor Kathy La Salle said Friday that prosecutors asked Ventura County Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark to sentence Vega to five years and four months in prison. La Salle said the maximum sentence was seven years and four months.
Vega, 33, of Oxnard, was driving a minivan that went the wrong direction on the Highway 101 southbound offramp at Rose Avenue at 4:25 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2005, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The minivan collided with a car, which ignited while Rochelle R. Smith, 42, and Walter Wilson, 47, both of Fillmore, were still inside.
"It was a very egregious set of facts," La Salle said in an interview. "Specifically, Mr. Wilson died in a very horrible manner. He had burns on 75 percent of his body. They weren't able to get him out of the car, which was fully engulfed in flames, because he was pinned by the steering wheel."
Smith was killed instantly by blunt force trauma, according to La Salle.
"It's just a really, really bad way to die," she said.
A passenger in Vega's van, Tiffany Muford of Oxnard, survived the collision.
Vega told police that he was upset with his passenger, according to La Salle.
"They were having some sort of an argument, and he drove down that offramp," said La Salle. "He gave different reasons. One of the reasons was because he was upset with her and wanted to scare her and hurt himself."
According to La Salle, Vega also had blamed his companion, saying that she "turned the wheel, and it was her that caused them to be going the wrong direction, and he was only trying to avoid other cars. He did manage to avoid some of the cars," La Salle said.
Posted by anom1985 on July 12, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
damn 3 years is nothing. what a shame
Posted by Hueneme_girl29 on July 12, 2008 at 10:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why the hell was he driving the wrong way? And 3 years? This poor man had to suffer a horrible, horrible death, if I was this mans family, I would be OUTRAGED! People get 3 years for selling a joint or something these days, not letting a woman die and a man burn to death. This legal system is jacked.......
Posted by Hueneme_girl29 on July 12, 2008 at 10:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice job again Bruce Clark! They asked for 5 years, max is 7, and you decide 3 is what you gave? Imagine how these peoples families feel? W/ good behavior I'm sure he'll be out in like 1 year. What a slap in the face to the family Mr. Clark!
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.