Man, 30, Pleads No Contest, To Serve 1 Year in Jail, 3 Years Probation In Distracted-Driving Death of 2 Women

A Rohnert Park man pleaded no contest today in Sonoma County Superior Court to gross vehicular manslaughter in a rear-end, distracted driving crash that killed two women in Santa Rosa in March.

Nicholas Tognozzi, 30, will be sentenced to one year in the Sonoma County jail and three years’ probation as part of the sentence indicated by Judge Rene Chouteau.

After 18 months of successful probation, the two felony gross vehicular manslaughter charges will be reduced to misdemeanors, under today’s plea agreement.

Tognozzi’s trial was scheduled to start Aug. 29, and he faced 12 years and four months if convicted of the charges and enhancements.

Tognozzi, who glanced down at his cellphone to check a text message seconds before the collision with a Toyota Camry on eastbound state Highway 12 in Santa Rosa, will begin serving his term Friday in advance of his formal sentencing on Sept. 19. In addition to serving only six months of the one-year county jail sentence, Tognozzi has two months credit for the time he spent in jail after the crash, meaning he will be released in December.

His attorney Matthew Freeman said after today’s plea that the case was a distracted driving, not a felony vehicular manslaughter offense.

Freeman said there was no speeding, texting, alcohol or drugs involved.

“It’s a wake up call to everyone,” Freeman said about the momentary cellphone distraction that cost the lives of Susan Hufford, 53, and her mother-in-law Sharon Hufford, 74, of Santa Rosa.

The women were sitting in the back seat of the 2001 Toyota Camry that was in slowing traffic on Highway 12 near Farmers Lane around 5:20 p.m. on March 15.

A California Highway Patrol officer testified at Tognozzi’s June 26 preliminary hearing that Tognozzi said he was driving to a friend’s house in Bennett Valley and looked down at his cellphone on the console of his 2005 GMC Sierra for 3-5 seconds because he was expecting a text from his friend.

Tognozzi said when he looked up he saw the stopped traffic but did not have time to break. The GMC collided with the Toyota at about 50 mph.

Jay Hufford, 54, Susan’s husband, and Donald Hufford, 74, Sharon’s husband, were riding in the front seat. Donald Hufford suffered major injuries in the crash. Jay Hufford, the driver, testified at the preliminary hearing that he pumped the brakes of the Toyota to alert traffic behind him as the vehicles slowed down near the busy Farmers Lane intersection.

He said when he checked the rear view mirror, he saw Tognozzi’s vehicle closing fast on the Toyota.

“I thought there was going to be a bad accident and there was nothing I could do. I was stopped. I saw my wife’s and my mother’s faces. I let out a yell. Upon impact I saw their heads just drop. It was as if the power was turned off inside them,” Jay Hufford said.

Chouteau ruled after the preliminary hearing that Tognozzi was driving too fast for the traffic conditions ahead, and that he looked down at his cellphone before the collision.

“In the court’s opinion, that’s gross negligence,” Chouteau said.

Chouteau did not comment on Tognozzi’s plea or on his indicated sentence today in court. Deputy District Attorney Dustin Hughson said the prosecution had not made any plea offers to Tognozzi and did not have any input on the indicated sentence that was reached with the defense during discussions in the judge’s chambers Tuesday and today.

“Once the court gives an indicated sentence, it’s a moot point. He (Tognozzi) pled to the two gross vehicular manslaughter charges,” Hughson said.

Hughson objected this morning when Chouteau removed from the complaint the great bodily injury enhancement regarding Donald Hufford’s injuries.

Hughson said the enhancement would have added five years to Tognozzi’s sentence. Hughson said Jay and Donald Hufford are aware of the plea agreement and indicated sentence but have not expressed an opinion on it.

--Bay City News