The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday, July 29 to review the case of a man convicted of a DUI crash in Lakewood that left one man dead and two others seriously injured.
Randy Trinidad Guadarrama was found guilty last year of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol content greater than 0.08% causing injury in connection with the Dec. 18, 2015, collision at the intersection of Clark Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard.
The crash killed Ebad Ahmed, 24, of Chatsworth, who was a passenger in a Kia Soul that was struck by Guadarrama’s vehicle. Two other people in the Kia were seriously injured.
In May, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal noted that Guadarrama had been traveling northbound at between 73 and 80 mph — in a 35 mph zone on Clark Avenue — before he applied the brakes near the intersection and that he was traveling between 38 and 46 mph when he collided with the Kia Soul, which was making a left turn onto Del Amo Boulevard.
The panel noted that a witness traveling behind Guadarrama’s car testified that the traffic light was green for the defendant’s vehicle when the collision occurred.
Guadarrama acknowledged after the crash that he “had a lot” to drink, and his blood-alcohol level was subsequently determined to be 0.14%, according to the appellate court panel’s ruling.
The appellate court justices rejected the defense’s contention that the defendant’s conviction on the two DUI charges must be reversed in light of his conviction for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Guadarrama was sentenced in 2019 to nearly seven years in state prison.
