It is simply hard to believe that Robert Orabuena will likely
again stand trial this week in San Benito County.
It is simply hard to believe that Robert Orabuena will likely again stand trial this week in San Benito County.
The 41-year-old Gilroy resident has already sat in jail for a month, faced second-degree murder and felony vehicular manslaughter charges – which were dropped – and is now still charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance.
All of the charges go back to a fatal, fateful tragic accident on July 4, 2003, on Fairview Road that resulted in the death of motorcyclist David Judnick, 48, of Salinas.
To say that Orabuena has been put through hell in the past four months would be an understatement.
It was initially thought by police and prosecutors that he was driving under the influence of drugs, which was finally disproved after a lengthy testing period.
Meanwhile, he lost his job at Charter Communications while in jail and, of course, was separated from his family for the time he was incarcerated. A hefty bail made that a certainty.
All this despite the fact that his defense attorney, Arthur Cantu, has proven that this is nothing more than a tragic accident. A superior court judge threw out felony vehicular manslaughter charges filed against Orabuena for lack of evidence in September. Alan Hedegard dismissed the charge during a preliminary hearing stating the prosecution could not meet the standard necessary to hold Orabuena.
Cantu successfully brought in an expert witness whose testimony helped drop the felony charges by demonstrating that the motorcycle could have hit Orabuena’s van at a high rate of speed. There is no reason to believe Cantu will be unable to show it again, perhaps even more definitively.
Why San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield continues to pursue this case is beyond us and just about every local legal expert we have consulted.
It’s a sickening waste of taxpayer money and more akin to a persecution than a prosecution.
Sarsfield and prosecutor Denny Wei have followed the DA’s office policy of not commenting on a case while it is being tried.
Isn’t that convenient? No muss, no fuss … no reason to comment on why another man’s life is being ruined after one has already died in a tragic accident.
All of the charges against Orabuena, except perhaps the insurance infraction, should be dropped before more taxpayer money is wasted on a jury trial that has no real chance of a conviction.
More important, this case should be ended because of fairness – or the alarming lack of it thus far.
Robert Orabuena and his family have already been severely punished for simply being involved in a tragic, but accidental, traffic fatality.
It’s high time for Sarsfield to move on and go after the real bad guys.
