Article taken from OC Register

Racers get 6 years for manslaughter
Julio Enrique Trujillo, 25, and Rodrigo Orejel Gomez, 22, were street racing when Trujillo hit a car driven by Margaret Levya, 74, killing her instantly.

By LARRY WELBORNE
The Orange County Register


Two street racers pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter Thursday after a Superior Court jury deadlocked on second-degree murder charges for killing a Huntington Beach woman when one of the drivers lost control of his car.

Julio Enrique Trujillo, 25, and Rodrigo Orejel Gomez, 22, both of Santa Ana, accepted six years in prison each rather than risk a second trial which could have led to life prison terms for both.

They were racing on busy Bristol Street in the middle of the afternoon on May 1, 2003, when Trujillo lost control of his yellow Mustang GT, crossed into opposing traffic and struck a Volkswagen Golf driven by Margaret Levya, 74, of Huntington Beach. Leyva, a drug and alcohol abuse counselor, was killed instantly.

Manuel Leyva, the victim's 57-year-old son, said Thursday that he was disappointed that the jury failed to convict the two racers of the more serious murder charges.

"I hope my mother didn't die in vain," he said outside the 10th-floor courtroom. "The word needs to go out that street racing kills."

Meanwhile, Miguel Angel Trujillo and Rosa Melgar, Jose Trujillo's parents,wept in the back of the courtroom gallery when they learned that their son was going to prison for six years

 

i do feel bad for his parents but thats how the cookie crumbles, your son f'ed up and so he has to pay the consequences.

they should have been crying tears of joy that he didnt get the life sentence.

 

Street racing on a busy street in the middle of the afternoon = morons who deserve to sit in jail.

 

Exactly. I live near this area, and I can say with confidence that this street is EXTREMELY busy.

 

I'm surprised at the sentencing. That's like a slap in the face for the son of the slain mother.

 

yea, but see he was street racing like an idiot, not planning to kill someone, i mean he was asking for trouble, but not for anyone to die, it was a freak accident that could have been avoided if he wasnt street racing, but it was also a freak accident because i like many other people have found, that the police do not allow you to race on safer roads, it is the system that screws itself and poeople who get hurt, go figure.

i'm not endorsing street racing, just saying if it's going to happen, let it happen out of the way, not on a busier street.

 

street racing in general = morons who deserve to sit in jail

 

da f*ck.... bristol is the friggin street that SouthCoast Plaza is on.....one of the top 3 largest malls in California :slap:

 

everything you do kills...accidents happen.
funny how street racing is always plastered all over the news...

street racing has been around since cars have been around, it won't go away. i think it's part of america, and i wish i lived in the 50's & 60's when it all started.

i'm not defending the idiots that did this, but i don't see why everyone acts so suprised when shit like this happens. i really don't know where i'm going with this so i'll shut up now...h:

my condolences to the family of the woman killed. :sad:

 

No if you are STREET RACING you are an idiot. Plain and simple. It's fine to risk your own life, but don't risk the life of everyone around you because you cannot control yourself or be grown up enough to head to the track. In all cases street racing is because part of the male psyche still has not grown up OR have no self control.

As you get older, wiser, and have a family you start to realize there are more important things in life besides who's dick is bigger.