BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury on Tuesday convicted a 23-year-old man of all charges — including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated — for a crash last year in east Bakersfield that killed a passenger and injured three others.
Jose Miranda-Cruz was found guilty of the manslaughter charge as well as DUI causing bodily injury and driving without a license. The prosecution said Miranda-Cruz had a BAC of 0.20% — the legal limit is 0.08% — and hit 93 mph before slamming on the brakes as he lost control of a vehicle on Morning Drive at College Avenue on Jan. 16, 2022.
The vehicle left the roadway and tumbled down an embankment. Passenger Edixon Guardado Velasco, 20, died at the scene and three female passengers were injured.
Miranda-Cruz’s attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders Nick Roth and Samantha Sark, had argued there were contradictions in the testimony of the surviving passengers and issues with the speed calculations, and said the evidence did not rise to the level of gross negligence.
