Damian Chavez, a 26-year-old man from Bellflower, was sentenced on Monday to only two years in prison for a hit-and-run vehicular manslaughter crash that killed two men in Santa Ana.
Chavez and another driver were racing at the 3200 block of South Bear Street at about 9:15 p.m. on April 20, 2019 when the other driver slammed his car into a tree. That car burst into flames and two victims, 39-year-old Jerman Marquez and 29- year-old Richard Inda, died.
Chavez pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit and run with permanent and serious injury and admitted sentencing enhancements for fleeing the scene of a vehicular manslaughter, on May 23.
In April of 2020 an Orange County Commissioner lowered Chavez’s bail from $100K to $20K, which angered OCDA Todd Spitzer. The lower bail allowed Chavez to get out of jail.
The commissioner lowered the bail due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. He also rejected two appeals from prosecutors.
