Couple from California Sentenced in the Death of a Pedestrian
It took a long while find out who has struck and killed a pedestrian in the Pacific Palisades last December, but the driver has been identified. The son of a California judge was walking home from a party when Marguerite Vuong hit him with her car while driving to her job at a Postal facility. Her vehicle was damaged and she took the vehicle home to get another car so she would not be questioned about the damage to the vehicle. Her husband has also been sentenced for lying to the police telling them he was the driver.
Surveillance cameras from nearby houses eventually led police to the Vuong home. It was particularly painful to the family of the young man as he did not die immediately after the accident. He passed away days later and maybe he would have survived if the couple had called the police immediately. The defendant and her husband both pleaded no contest. She was sentenced to three years in jail and he was given a one year jail sentence. Police had a recording of Mrs. Vuong at the police station telling her husband to tell the lie about him being the driver.
A hit and run case involving a fatality is a difficult case for all those involved. Many cases involving vehicular homicide are at their most basic an unintentional occurrence. It’s the trying to cover things up and avoiding the situation that makes the most trouble for the driver. In California a defense attorney must be called in all for cases involving the death or injury to a pedestrian colliding with a car.
Mrs. Vuong who has said she feels remorse would be doing much better if the accident was phoned in immediately and a California defense attorney was consulted as soon as possible. She did accept a plea bargain but her actions did tie the hands of her representative in what he could do to keep her sentence to a minimum.
At the Law Offices of Arash Hashemi, we provide clients with passionate and experienced representation. If you have been charged with vehicular manslaughter or any other crime and would like to schedule an initial consultation with a lawyer at our firm, contact us by phone at (310) 448-1529 or contact us online. We promptly return phone calls and emails. Our office is conveniently located in the Westside Towers in West Los Angeles, within minutes of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Westwood. We have flexible and weekend office hours, and we will visit you in jail to discuss your case.
