[UPDATED:] It's Not My Fault, Your Honor, Because I Was Too Drunk to Remember the Fatal Crash


UPDATE: Kenneth John McNair, 22, of Downey, was sentenced today to 11 years in state prison in connection with the death-by-drunken-driving conviction described below. During sentencing, Reynaldo
Pacheco, father of the victim, tearfully described the devastation his family is suffering, saying his son was a shining star in the family, a role model to his siblings,
and had grown into a better man than they could have hoped. He asked
why his son, who was doing everything right, had to die when the man
who was doing everything wrong was still alive.


How's this for a defense tactic? “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I cannot be held responsible for the crash that burned to death a 20-year-old college student and for fleeing the scene because I was so drunk I don't remember any of it.”

That was essentially what Miller told jurors, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
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Let's just say the Superior Court jury in Santa Ana did not buy that argument. McNair was found
guilty in December of one felony count of vehicular manslaughter by
unlawful act with gross negligence while intoxicated and one
misdemeanor count of driving without a valid license with a sentencing
enhancement for fleeing the scene of a crime.

Here is the OCDA's account:

On
the evening of Nov. 15, 2008, McNair consumed alcoholic beverages with a
friend at his home in Downey and then took a cab to Downey Brewing
Company. The defendant consumed more alcoholic drinks at the bar before
taking a cab home. The defendant, who has never been issued a
California driver's license, drove to Sharkeez in Huntington Beach from
his home. Upon arriving at the bar, the defendant consumed several more
alcoholic beverages before getting into the driver's seat of his Honda
sedan with his friend, who was in the passenger seat, and driving
away. 

At approximately 1:30 a.m., McNair was driving
northbound on Goldenwest Street at speeds between 75 and 80 mph in a 45
mph zone. At the intersection of Goldenwest Street and Edinger Avenue,
the defendant crashed into the back of victim
Jose Pacheco's Ford
Mustang and side-swiped another vehicle, which were both stopped at a
red light. The force of the impact caused by McNair pushed the victim's
car across the intersection, where it came to a stop and exploded in
flames. The defendant fled the scene on foot after crashing head-on
into a semi-trailer truck on the other side of the intersection.
Several witnesses called 9-1-1.

McNair was scooped up by Huntington Beach police
about a block from the accident scene. His eyes were bloodshot and
watery, his speech was slurred and he could barely stand upright. Court testimony showed that almost
two hours after the crash, McNair's blood alcohol level was .25
percent, or more than three times the legal limit.   

Pacheco, a
20-year-old college student at Cal State Long Beach, could not be pulled out of the car in time by citizens and police officers to save him from the flames that ultimately consumed him.

According to prosecutors, McNair testified at trial that he had no memory of the
crash or leaving the scene. “His defense argued that the defendant
should not be held responsible for fleeing because his intoxication
made him unaware that he had hurt someone,” reads the OCDA statement.

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