Overview
- Jurors on Monday found Lotfullah Sohaib Latif, 33, guilty of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, two DUI injury counts, and three great-bodily-injury enhancements.
- Prosecutors relied on the car’s Event Data Recorder showing 89 mph five seconds before hitting a guardrail and on reports that the Honda remained disabled facing the wrong way.
- The semi-truck driven by 58-year-old Carlos Alberto Lara struck the blacked-out Honda and erupted in flames near Valley View Avenue, and Lara was pronounced dead at the scene.
- CHP officers said Latif denied drinking or being in a crash when contacted on the shoulder, while noting alcohol on his breath and finding his license plate and a car door by a broken guardrail.
- The defense has challenged toxicology results and contends Latif tried to move the vehicle and activate its hazard lights before the collision.