A 45-year-old man was convicted this week of an alcohol-fueled crash in Irvine that killed a 20-year-old woman.
Antonio Calixtonavarrete was convicted Tuesday, June 10, of second-degree murder and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury, both felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol in excess of the legal limit of .08%.
The crash occurred about 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2020, at Main Street and Culver Drive and left Isadora Stabel dead.
Calixtonavarrete faced murder instead of vehicular manslaughter because of a prior conviction for misdemeanor DUI and hit-and-run with property damage from Feb. 20, 2019, in Newport Beach, according to court records.
Calixtonavarrete’s blood-alcohol level was 0.184 about seven hours following the crash, Deputy District Attorney Mallory Miller told jurors during the trial.
Calixtonavarrete admitted to police at the crash scene, “I don’t drive with my kids in the car when I’m drinking,” Miller said.
Stabel was in the back seat of a Hyundai Elantra driven by a man who accelerated to make it through the intersection as the light turned from green to yellow, Miller said.
“He was trying to get through the intersection, because he didn’t think he could stop in time,” Miller said.
Other motorists testified how the light changed just after the collision.
“The only explanation is (Calixtonavarrete) drove through a red light,” Miller said. “The way the lights are situated, there’s no way Mr. Calixto-Calixtonavarrete had a green light. … The only way he would have had a green light is if he had stopped at the intersection and waited for it to turn.”
