The bond for a California woman facing a manslaughter charge as the result of a fatal traffic collision has been reduced, court records show.
A formal count of first degree manslaughter was filed in March 22 this year Lincoln County District against Ariel Navarro, 32, of Banning, Calif. A $50,000 bench warrant was issued for her arrest.
Court records show the warrant was returned and filed on April 1.
She made her initial appearance along with her attorney before Special Judge Emily Mueller on April 11. At that time, she entered an innocent plea and the court received the plea.
Judge Mueller set a bond hearing for Navarro at 1:30 p.m. on May 2. On that date, her bond was reduced from $50,000 to $30,000, court records show.
Navarro was reportedly driving a vehicle involved in a fatal traffic collision near Stroud in Lincoln County.
The information charges that on July 29, 2023 in Lincoln County Navarro was driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicating substance, misdemeanor. It alleges she was driving a 1999 Honda Accord on a public road while having an amount of marijuana, a Controlled Dangerous Substance, in her blood and as the result she injured her passenger, Brian Burke, causing his death on July 29, 2023.
State Trooper Shayne Ballard stated the fatal collision occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. on July 29 on County Road E 810 near Old Forge Road near Stroud.
In a probable cause affidavit, Ballard states Navarro told him she had split one alcoholic beverage with Burke and she had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
A voluntary blood draw during the investigation confirmed Navarro had THCA and THC in her blood stream at the time of the collision.
Ballard reported that physical evidence at the scene showed the 1999 Honda Accord was traveling eastbound on E. 810 County Road, she lost control of the vehicle on a gravel roadway, left the road to the north and the vehicle overturned coming to rest on its top. The vehicle landed in a shallow creek bed and Burke was pronounced dead at the collision scene, the trooper noted.