A California woman’s first degree manslaughter charge, a felony, has been amended to a misdemeanor and she has been handed a suspended sentence.
A formal count of first degree manslaughter was filed on March 22, 2024 in Lincoln County District against Ariel Navarro, 32, of Banning, Calif. A $50,000 bench warrant was issued for her arrest.
The charge was filed as a result of a fatal traffic collision.
Court records show the warrant was returned and filed on April 1.
She earlier waived her preliminary hearing. Appearing before District Judge Sarah Bridge on Dec. 17 for the felony disposition docket, the state moved to amend the charged to misdemeanor negligent homicide. As a result of a plea bargain, Navarro entered a guilty plea to the amended charge.
A victim impact statement was read and the court found her guilty as charged. She drew a one-year suspended jail term with two months flat in the county jail.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Thompson and Kelly Trimble and she was defended by attorney William Foster.
Navarro was reportedly driving a vehicle involved in a fatal traffic collision near Stroud in Lincoln County.
The information charged 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, 2023 on County Road E 810 near Old Forge Road near Stroud.
In a probable cause affidavit, Ballard stated 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.
During an interview, Navarro reportedly told Ballard she was the driver of the Honda Accord and she further informed him she was not a very good driver and lost control on the gravel road. She advised the trooper she was driving because Burke was tired and falling asleep.
Ballard states in the affidavit Navarro told him she attempted to extricate Burke from the vehicle but was not able to do so. There was also a passenger, a juvenile, in the back seat of the vehicle.