The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is seeking a second-degree murder conviction against Steven Hendrix for his role in the Second Street crash that killed Davis resident Cynthia Jonasen.
Hendrix, 32, did not enter a plea at his arraignment hearing Friday afternoon. A deputy public defender asked that the hearing be postponed until next Wednesday so that Hendrix’s attorney in a recent domestic violence case, Deputy Public Defender Teal Dixon, could be present.
Yolo Superior Court Commissioner Kent O’Mara also increased Hendrix’s bail from $360,000 to a no-bail hold in light of the open murder charge.
A six-page criminal complaint filed Friday morning alleges Hendrix killed Jonasen “with malice aforethought.” It cites the so-called Watson implied malice rule, which involves three elements: a death resulting from an intentional act, the natural consequences of that act are dangerous to human life, and the defendant acted with conscious disregard to that fact.
Hendrix also faces felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs causing injury with an enhancement for multiple victims, and four counts of child endangerment; a misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license; and case enhancements for having prior felony convictions and committing a felony while on bail.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The man accused of causing Wednesday’s violent crash on Second Street that killed a Davis woman and injured six others — including four young children — was free on bail while awaiting sentencing for his felony domestic violence conviction from the week before.
Steven Hendrix, 32, of West Sacramento, already was facing more than 13 years in state prison when, according to Davis police, his westbound Ford Taurus SUV slammed into the side of a Honda sedan whose driver was on her way to Target to check on a prescription.
Cynthia Ann Jonasen, 71, a former Yolo County probation officer who later worked at some of Davis’ most popular downtown retail stores, died at the scene.
“She was in perfect health. She had planned to outlive us all,” Heather Jonasen, one of the victim’s two daughters, said in an interview Thursday. “She always just wanted to go, go, go.”
Police said Jonason was making a left turn from southbound Cantrill Drive onto eastbound Second Street at about 5:15 p.m. when Hendrix’s vehicle, traveling at a high rate of speed, struck the driver’s side of the Honda. The mangled vehicles came to rest on opposite sides of Second Street.
“It was a very loud explosion,” said Rick Hoffmann, owner of Hoffmann Automotive, whose business sits near the crash scene. “I turned around and saw a large debris field exploding into the air. I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen as dramatic an accident in my life.”
“I will never forget that sound,” he added.
Hoffmann said two of his employees rushed toward the wreckage to help the victims while another worker called 911.
Recent conviction
Hendrix and his six passengers — his girlfriend, her sister and the women’s four children ages 12, 12, 10 and 6 — sustained minor injuries in the crash despite the fact that none of them were restrained at the time, according to Davis police Sgt. Rod Rifredi.
Police later arrested Hendrix at Kaiser Vacaville on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs and child endangerment. He was booked into the Yolo County Jail on $360,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today in Yolo Superior Court.
He declined an interview request Thursday from The Davis Enterprise.
Hendrix’s arraignment hearing comes just one week after a Yolo County jury convicted him of two felony domestic violence charges stemming from incidents in April and June of 2015 in which he reportedly strangled his girlfriend during arguments.
“Though the victim’s testimony at trial was inconsistent with what she told police officers, the jury accepted her earlier statements regarding what had transpired on the two dates,” the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release about the conviction earlier this week, indicating the woman had recanted her abuse allegations.
Jurors also found that Hendrix had a prior “strike” conviction — first-degree burglary — and had reoffended within five years of serving prison time. Judge Samuel McAdam did not remand him into custody following the verdict, allowing Hendrix to remain free on $115,000 bail pending his April 7 sentencing hearing.
Heather Jonasen said she was “shocked” to learn of Hendrix’s criminal history.
“Obviously this is a pattern for him and he doesn’t learn,” she said. “The whole way he was putting people at risk.”
‘A wonderful person’
Heather Jonasen, who also lives in Davis, said she had spoken to her mother on the phone just before the crash, making plans to get together on Thursday. Authorities informed her of the fatal crash about midnight.
“She was just a wonderful person,” Jonasen said of her mother, who enjoyed travel, reading murder-mystery novels, playing bridge and shopping for unique purchases on eBay. “She had more energy than most 24-year-olds.”
A so-called “Army brat” whose family moved from city to city during her youth, Cynthia Jonasen graduated from high school in Seattle at age 16. She moved to Davis when her husband, David, attended UCD.
She worked as a Yolo County deputy probation officer for about 15 years during the 1970s and ’80s but was perhaps too compassionate for the probationers she oversaw and eventually left the profession, her daughter said.
Jonasen became a familiar face amid the downtown Davis retail district, working at the now-defunct Quessenberry’s Drug Store, then as the toy manager at the former Discoveries store on E Street and at The Naturalist nature-themed gift shop until it closed in 2010.
She adored arts and crafts, a passion she passed down to Heather Jonasen and her two children. Other survivors include daughter Kelly Jonasen of Placerville, two sisters in Texas and Virginia and her husband David, whom she had separated from but still helped care for after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“He still loves her,” Heather Jonasen said.
Safety concerns
Wednesday’s fatal crash remains under investigation by the Davis Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team, a process that is expected to take about a month, Rifredi said.
Among the conclusions investigators hope to draw is the speed Hendrix’s vehicle was traveling when it struck Jonasen’s car.
Although that portion of Second Street has a posted 45-mph speed limit, Rick Hoffmann said he and his co-workers regularly see vehicles going faster than that, along with impatient drivers who use the median to illegally pass slower-moving cars.
In fact, Davis police investigators said Thursday they believe that Hendrix passed a gray sedan just prior to the collision and are hoping to make contact with that driver, as he or she may be a witness to the fatal crash.
Police urge the driver or passengers of this vehicle, or any other witnesses, to call the Davis Police Department at 530-747-5400.
Cantrill Drive presents another problem, Hoffmann said, with motorists often “taking their chances” in pulling onto Second Street, merging with eastbound and westbound traffic that is not required to slow down or stop.
“I’m not sure why there isn’t more speed control on this road,” said Hoffmann, who emailed Davis Mayor Dan Wolk following the crash to express his concerns. “It’s tragic. Hopefully something will be done.”
Wolk, meanwhile, said he is listening.
“I am very saddened by what happened,” the mayor said in an email to The Enterprise. “I am working closely with the city manager, police chief and public works director to see what steps can be taken to make this safer. Everything is on the table when there is an incident as tragic as this.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
