WOODLAND — With numerous police and medical reports just beginning to trickle in, Wednesday’s scheduled preliminary hearing for the suspect in a fatal Davis crash was postponed until mid-April.
Steven Hendrix, 32, is charged with second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and child endangerment for his alleged role in the Feb. 24 collision on Second Street that killed local resident Cynthia Jonasen, 71, and injured the two women and four young children who were in Hendrix’s vehicle.
Steven Hendrix. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson set the preliminary hearing, expected to involve multiple witnesses, for the afternoons of April 12 and 13.
Hendrix also is facing a 13-year prison sentence in connection with a felony domestic violence case for which he was convicted five days before the fatal crash. While the initial thought was to postpone the April 7 sentencing hearing until the new charges are resolved, the case’s prosecutor requested Wednesday that it proceed as planned.
“I don’t believe there’s any reason for us not to go forward with the sentencing,” Deputy District Attorney Crystal Chau said, to which Hendrix’s defense lawyer Teal Dixon replied, “I don’t think we can properly litigate the sentencing with this case pending.”
Richardson said the decision should go to Judge Samuel McAdam, who presided over the domestic violence trial, and set a hearing for 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 23.
In the meantime, Hendrix is being held without bail at the Yolo County Jail.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene