WOODLAND — The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday it will not seek a second trial for Steven Hendrix, the man convicted last month of causing a fatal crash on Second Street in Davis.
Instead, the case will proceed to sentencing, with Hendrix facing 42 years in state prison for the Feb. 24, 2016, collision that killed 71-year-old Cynthia Ann Jonasen of Davis. Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson is scheduled to sentence him on July 20.
A jury convicted Hendrix, 33, of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs causing injury and four counts of child endangerment.
But it deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquitting him of second-degree murder, a charge filed based Hendrix’s reckless driving that prosecutors say demonstrated a conscious disregard for human life.
Witnesses testified that Hendrix, who had two women and their four young children in his vehicle, reached speeds up to 84 mph before broadsiding Jonasen’s car as she made a left turn onto Second Street from Cantrill Drive. Jonasen died nearly instantly.
Hendrix’s public defenders argued that while Hendrix’s conduct warranted a criminal conviction, it did not amount to murder.
“We’re pleased and agree with (the DA’s) decision,” Deputy Public Defender Teal Dixon said Thursday following a brief court hearing during which Richardson dismissed the murder count at Deputy District Attorney Amanda Zambor’s request.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene