Twice-deported man guilty in traffic death
Saturday, November 4, 2006
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA -- A twice-deported illegal immigrant with a history of drug arrests has been convicted in the traffic death of a Yakima Valley Community College educator.
A Yakima County Superior Court jury deliberated for barely half an hour Thursday before finding Marcos Ramos Medina, 35, most recently of Portland, guilty of vehicular homicide in his second trial.
Medina faces 2 1/2 to five years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 16 for the death of Peggy Keller, 53, a radiology expert and dean of distance education and technical services at the two-year school.
Keller was on her way to an education conference in Vancouver, Wash., when Medina's 1997 Chevrolet Lumina crossed the center line and hit her 2000 Lexus nearly head-on on U.S. Route 97 between Goldendale and Toppenish on Aug. 4, 2005.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to testimony by a state toxicologist, Barry Logan, a blood test following the crash showed that Medina had a high concentration of methamphetamine in his system, adding that the miles of erratic driving described by witnesses and his mood swings after the crash were indications of drug-induced exhaustion.
Testifying in his own defense Thursday, Medina said he was exhausted from a trip to sell a pickup in Portland, had gotten very little sleep for several days because of generalized bouts with fear and nervousness and had been given some pills by a friend the night before the crash.
Defense lawyers did not deny that Medina was to blame but argued that his conduct was reckless or negligent, which would be treated less severely under the law, rather than impaired driving, which is grounds for a vehicular homicide conviction.
2006-11-04
19:16:08
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