Hollister
– On the Fourth of July, Gilroy’s Robert Orabuena saw a life
taken tragically before his eyes. Now he’s watching bewilderedly as
powers that be try to take away his life, and he can’t stop
asking,
”
why?
”
Hollister – On the Fourth of July, Gilroy’s Robert Orabuena saw a life taken tragically before his eyes. Now he’s watching bewilderedly as powers that be try to take away his life, and he can’t stop asking, “why?”
Why did he spend more than a month in jail charged with second-degree murder for a fatal traffic accident that he contends he didn’t cause? Why did a California Highway Patrol officer insist Orabuena was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident when three subsequent blood tests have shown no illegal drugs were in his system? Why is he being treated differently by prosecutors than the Caucasian high school teacher involved in a similar accident in San Benito County eight months ago?
In his first interview since the accident that changed his life, Orabuena, 41, told his side of the story Wednesday afternoon.
Sitting in his attorney’s Hollister office, a visibly upset and shaken Orabuena said he’s still searching for answers.
“It was a nightmare. It’s still very confusing to me,” said the soft-spoken Orabuena, who spent 36 days in San Benito County jail charged with second-degree murder, felony gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of marijuana for his role in a fatal vehicle accident July 4 on a rural Hollister road. Orabuena faced 25 years to life in prison. The judge set bail at $1 million.
“The things they were saying were not true,” he said, “but no one would listen to me.”
Although a CHP officer conducting a series of sobriety tests following the fatal collision concluded Orabuena was under the influence of marijuana that afternoon, a series of blood tests showed no trace of illegal drugs. Prosecutors received the first test within four days of the accident, but under state law the District Attorney’s office can wait for follow-up tests before amending charges, which they eventually did on Aug. 6.
When prosecutors finally reduced the charge against Orabuena to felony gross vehicular manslaughter, bail was dropped to $30,000. On Aug. 8 he was able to return to his home on Festo Aglio Court that he built and shares with his wife Yvette and 1-year-old son. He said his life remains in shambles after learning he’d been laid off from his job laying fiber optics for Charter Cable due to his incarceration.
“I was away from my wife and son for so long,” Orabuena said. “Everyone was telling me they read about me in the newspaper. They all thought I did something very wrong. There was a very dark cloud over me that got worse every day. I feel very bad for what happened, but I know I did nothing wrong. I wish I could do it over again and (it would) be different.”
Traveling north on a two-lane, 55 mph speed-limit Fairview Road the afternoon of the Fourth, Orabuena attempted to make a left turn across the single yellow line into a friend’s driveway. As he made the turn in his Dodge Ram minivan, Salinas resident Joseph Judnick, driving southbound on a 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, collided with Orabuena’s van, according to CHP reports.
Judnick, 48, suffered major head and body injuries and died almost immediately, despite attempts by Orabuena and several other passing pedestrians to administer CPR, CHP reports said.
CHP officers interviewed Orabuena at the scene and asked him if he’d been drinking or using drugs. He said he had not and was asked to pass several sobriety tests, according to Orabuena.
He was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana, charged with second-degree murder and gross-vehicular manslaughter and taken to jail.
A free man – for now – Orabuena and his new court-appointed attorney Arthur Cantu are asking the San Benito County District Attorney to drop all charges, citing a shoddy CHP investigation, racism and political grandstanding by the prosecution.
Cantu said his investigations show that Judnick was speeding on the borrowed motorcycle before the high-impact collision, and that Orabuena should never have been charged with causing the accident.
Two separate CHP investigations concluded that Orabuena was at fault, however, although test results on the speed of Judnick’s motorcycle will not be available for another few weeks, according to CHP spokeswoman Terry Mayes.
“Our conclusion that Orabuena caused the collision has not changed,” she said. “At this time we do not have information on (Judnick’s) speed.”
If convicted of the new felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter, and a long list of misdemeanors including vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance, Orabuena could spend 15 years in prison. The sentence maximum is double normal standards because it would be Orabuena’s second felony conviction. In 1994 he was convicted of felony domestic battery, Cantu said. Contrary to previous newspaper reports, Orabuena has never been convicted of vehicular manslaughter, according to court records.
“To charge my client with a felony is completely out of line with all reason,” Cantu said.
Cantu claims the prosecution’s aggressive charges are race and political based.
For proof, he points to the case of San Benito High School teacher William Johnson. In November, Johnson, who is Caucasian, cut a deal with the San Benito District Attorney’s office to plead no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter following an accident where his wife was killed while he was driving under the influence of alcohol.
In December Johnson was sentenced to 120 days house arrest and five years probation.
“This is a Caucasian man, highly educated, and he’s drinking and driving,” Cantu said. “He gets slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor. My client, who is Hispanic and not well educated, is sober, and they’re going for the throat. That’s not how justice works.”
Cantu believes District Attorney John Sarsfield, who took over the county’s prosecution reins Jan. 1, is being aggressive because Orabuena is an easy target and Sarsfield wants to use him as an example. He also said that is the reason Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders removed Orabuena’s original attorney, Greg LaForge, from the case.
Judge Sanders reasoned that LaForge was a former member of the county’s district attorney’s office and once prosecuted Orabuena, therefore held a conflict of interest in the case.
Cantu said the reason for the dismissal was because LaForge, now a member of the public defender’s office, is known as the best attorney in Hollister.
Judge Sanders has also been removed from the case, per Orabuena’s request.
“It is hard to compare (the Johnson) case to any current case,” said Denny Wei, the deputy district attorney prosecuting Orabuena’s case. “We have a new administration now that takes the death of someone very seriously. … Based on the facts, we believe Mr. Orabuena committed a felony.”
Unless Cantu can convince prosecutors to drop the charges against Orabuena, it could be a long court battle ahead.
“The scary thing about an accident like this is that it could happen to anyone,” said Serena Potter, Orabuena’s neighbor who’s written letters of recommendation on Orabuena’s behalf to the San Benito County District Attorney’s office and both of Orabuena’s judges.
“It’s obvious that if me or my husband would’ve been in this same accident we wouldn’t be treated the way Robert has,” said Potter, who told stories of Orabuena’s donation of free labor and construction knowledge to help her and her husband build their back porch and patio. “We’re Caucasian, we have better education. Robert’s an easy target for them, and it’s not right what they’re doing to him and his family over an accident.”
As for Orabuena, he believes he’s paid enough.
“I feel bad about everything, of course, I wish the man was still alive,” a teary-eyed Orabuena said. “It is very dark for me right now.
“I don’t know if I trust this justice here, but I believe in my church and in God, and I think it will get light again.”
