WOODLAND — Next week’s scheduled trial for the man accused of causing a fatal collision in Davis last year has been delayed two months due to unavailable witnesses — including an allegedly uncooperative pathologist.
Steven Hendrix, 33, faces second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, impaired driving and child endangerment charges in connection with the Feb. 24, 2016, crash on Second Street that killed Davis resident Cynthia Jonasen.
Steven Hendrix, 32, listens to the charges against him stemming from a fatal crash last year in Davis during a hearing in Yolo Superior Court. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise file photo
Police said Jonasen, 71, was turning left from Cantrill Drive onto Second Street when Hendrix, traveling westbound on Second with two women and four young children, broadsided her car at an estimated 80 mph, nearly twice the speed limit. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Earlier this week, Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Amanda Zambor filed a motion to postpone the trial for a number of reasons, including the fact that two key witnesses from the Davis Police Department would be unavailable to testify in March, while the forensic pathologist who performed Jonasen’s autopsy had left the state and could not be located.
Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson denied the request but heard a motion to consider on Thursday, where Zambor disclosed she had found the pathologist in Utah but was having difficulty getting him to return to California to appear in court.
“I explained to him the seriousness of this case,” Zambor said, adding that she spent more than half an hour “trying to convince him to come voluntarily. He was unwilling to rearrange his work schedule in any manner.”
Now, because Zambor no longer holds subpoena power across state lines, the prosecutor said she must launch an out-of-state subpoena process to compel the doctor’s appearance or track down another pathologist to review the autopsy materials and present the findings at trial — neither of which would come to fruition anytime soon.
Richardson relented and agreed to push back the trial in light of the new information, despite opposition from Hendrix’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Teal Dixon, who declared her case “prepared to go forward.”
The trial was set to begin May 1 after Hendrix, who had previously waived his right to speedy trial, withdrew that waiver Thursday following Richardson’s ruling.
In the meantime, Hendrix remains in Yolo County Jail custody. In addition to being held without bail in the murder case, Hendrix is serving a seven-year, eight month prison sentence for a felony domestic violence conviction that occurred five days before the crash. He was free on bail while awaiting sentencing.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene