Crime & Safety
Man Convicted In Deadly Peninsula DUI Manslaughter Case
The man was a Stanford Graduate School of Business student at the time of the life-changing crash.
A 28-year-old man has been convicted of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence for a 2013 crash on U.S. Highway 101 in South San Francisco that killed a man in a taxi cab, San Mateo County prosecutors said Monday.
Zachary Katz, who was a Stanford Graduate School of Business student, was found guilty Friday after four days of jury deliberations for a crash that occurred near Sierra Point Parkway early on the morning of Oct. 5, 2013.
Katz was spotted by a California Highway Patrol officer driving the wrong way onto southbound Highway 101. He then crashed head-on into a Ford Escape taxi that had a driver and two passengers inside, prosecutors said.
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One of the passengers, Pedro Soldevilla, 62, of Puerto Rico, was ejected and died at the scene. The other passenger was also ejected and suffered major injuries, while the driver suffered a broken foot, prosecutors said.
Katz was trapped in his car but was eventually extricated and a test at the hospital a couple of hours later found he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13, according to the district attorney's office.
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The case was delayed for two years over appeals regarding whether the blood test was admissible in court, with defense attorney Geoff Carr arguing that Katz did not receive any admonition regarding his right to refuse the test without a warrant.
Carr also argued that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2016 changed the controlling law regarding warrant-less blood tests in DUI cases. The state appeals court disagreed, allowing the blood test evidence to be presented in the trial.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Leland Davis remanded Katz into custody Friday after he had been out on $250,000 bail.
He will return to court on Jan. 5 for sentencing and faces up to 16 years and eight months in prison, according to Carr.
The defense attorney said he will be filing post-trial motions in the case, likely including a request for a new trial.
By Bay City News Service / Image via Shutterstock
