Man Pleads No Contest To DUI Crash That Killed 3 People In Colma
REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) -- A Daly City man accused of driving drunk in a hit-and-run crash that killed three people in Colma last year pleaded no contest to the charges Wednesday during the second day of his jury trial, San Mateo County prosecutors said Thursday.
Paul Michael Anthony Diaz, 26, pleaded no contest to three counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with gross negligence and felony hit-and-run resulting in injury or death. Prosecutors said he also has a prior DUI conviction.
Diaz was driving three passengers in a Ford Mustang in the 200 block of Hillside Drive around 7:40 a.m. on May 27, 2013, when he rear-ended the car in front of him and lost control of the Mustang, slamming into a retaining wall and shearing the car in half.
He managed to pull himself out of the car, saw his girlfriend, identified as 23-year-old Rosa Maria Falla, lying dead on the ground, and took off running, prosecutors said.
All three passengers in the Mustang were killed. The other two were identified as Jonathan Jade Mouton, 21, and Ruvin Abel Vasquez, 22. The three victims were also Daly City residents.
The Honda he hit slammed into a cement wall at the Cypress Lawn cemetery, but the driver of the Honda was not seriously injured, police said last year.
Diaz turned himself in to police about six hours after the crash.
He had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges and his trial in the courtroom of Judge Barbara Mallach began Tuesday.
But on Wednesday, he entered the no contest plea under an arrangement that he would receive a sentence of between 15 and 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 6.
Diaz remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.
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