California - less than 3 years for hit & run killing

Riverside woman pleads guilty in hit-and-run that killed cyclist
Daily News Wire Services
Posted: 02/01/2011 08:03:49 PM PST
Updated: 02/01/2011 08:05:30 PM PST

SANTA ANA - A 38-year-old Riverside woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges
stemming from a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist in Newport Beach.

Patricia Ann Izquieta pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run with death,
felony vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and misdemeanor driving
without a valid license. She also admitted a sentencing enhancement
allegation for causing great bodily injury.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald offered to sentence
Izquieta to three years in prison -- the maximum sentence was four years --
in exchange for the guilty plea, Deputy District Attorney Jason Baez said.

Izquieta will have to at least 85 percent of the time, according to the
prosecutor.

Formal sentencing is set for March 11.

Izauieta was driving her Saturn sport-utility vehicle north on Jamboree
Road in the right lane about 6 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2009, when she struck
Donald Murphy, who was riding his bicycle next to the curb, Baez said.

Izquieta kept driving, despite significant damage to the front hood and
windshield of the SUV, Baez said. The bicycle was dragged for more than a
mile under the vehicle until Izquieta stopped in a Coco's restaurant
parking lot, where someone called police, Baez said. She was still in the
vehicle in the parking lot when police arrived.

Izquieta was taking prescription medicine, including methadone,
Hydromorphone and Clonazepam, which affected her driving, Baez
said.

The 49-year-old bicyclist died a day later from head and neck injuries he
suffered in the collision, Baez said.   CNS-02-01-2011 18:39

---

Motorist on drugs pleads guilty in bicyclist death
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 2, 2011; 9:19 AM

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A drug-addled Southern California motorist who struck
and killed a bicyclist, then dragged the bike under her car for a mile
while fleeing could spend up to three years in prison.

Orange County prosecutors say 38-year-old Patricia Ann Izquieta, of
Riverside, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony hit and run with permanent
death or injury, felony vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and
misdemeanor driving without a valid license.

She is expected to get three years in prison when she's sentenced March 11.

Investigators say Izquieta was behind the wheel of a Saturn SUV and was
under the influence of several prescription drugs when she struck bicyclist
Donald Murphy in Newport Beach in 2009.

Murphy was thrown from his bicycle and Izquieta took off, dragging the bike
more than a mile.