BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Sentencing was postponed Thursday for a man convicted of murder and other charges in a 2017 drunken driving crash that killed a pedestrian in Lamont.
A status conference is set for Oct. 5 in the case against Jesus Rodriguez Moreno, at which point a new sentencing date may be scheduled.
Moreno, 61, was convicted of all charges last month in the June 3, 2017, crash that killed David Rosales Rico. He was previously found guilty in 2019, but the 5th District Court of Appeal tossed the convictions after determining officers violated his Miranda rights by giving incomplete or ambiguous readings of the warning that begins, “You have the right to remain silent.” A retrial began in July.
Moreno had a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit and swerved across Highway 184 when he hit Rico, 39, who died at the scene, prosecutor William Schlaerth said. Moreno has three prior DUI convictions.
Jacob Evans, Moreno’s public defender, had asked the jury to return a guilty verdict of vehicular manslaughter with intoxication with ordinary negligence. He argued that charge better fit the evidence.
