WOODLAND — Prosecutors have upped the ante in a Yolo County vehicular manslaughter case, filing a murder charge against the driver accused of causing a freeway crash that killed a young boy last month.
Shane Michael Carlyle, 34, pleaded not guilty to the new count during a court hearing Monday, two weeks after a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence for him to stand trial on other felony charges including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs causing injury and reckless driving.
The prosecution can pursue a second-degree murder charge against Carlyle under the implied-malice theory of the law, which alleges that he committed an intentional act that was dangerous to human life, and that he acted with conscious disregard to that fact.
According to testimony offered during Carlyle’s preliminary hearing earlier this month, witnesses to the events leading up to the June 18 crash reported that Carlyle had been speeding on Interstate 5 that night, recklessly weaving in and out of traffic as he headed southbound toward Woodland.
Near the County Road 22 exit, Carlyle’s BMW struck the rear of a Nissan pickup, sending a Woodland family returning home from a day on the American River rolling down an embankment. Five-year-old Luis Figueroa Jr., one of four young children in the truck, later died from his injuries.
California Highway Patrol officers say they suspected Carlyle of being under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the crash. A blood sample taken from him an hour later showed “a higher amount than normal” of the stimulant drug, CHP Officer Lamberto Montano testified.
Carlyle, who remains on a $1 million bail hold at the Yolo County Jail, returns to court Oct. 30 for a trial readiness conference, according to jail staff.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene