P.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Around 4:15 a.m. on July 24, 2005, defendant was driving his Chevy Suburban the

wrong way on the southbound Interstate-215 in San Bernardino. He collided head-on

with a two-door Saturn driven by a 17-year-old boy, with a 16-year-old boy in the front

passenger seat, and that boy’s 17-year-old brother in the rear seat. The Saturn’s driver

swerved to avoid defendant, but defendant swerved in the same direction. The Saturn’s

driver died at the scene. His front seat passenger died at the hospital later that morning.

The rear seat passenger suffered major injuries but survived.

Defendant was found unbuckled in the passenger seat of the Suburban, along with

a nearly empty bottle of vodka. Defendant’s eyes were red and watery, and he smelled of

alcohol. Defendant’s response to questions was not understandable because his words

were mumbled and slurred. Defendant was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.

percent.

Defendant had prior drunk driving convictions from arrests in 1990, 1991, 1992,

1998, and 2000. When the accident occurred in 2005, he was on probation for the last

conviction and his driver’s license was still suspended.

2 On December 2,…