An emotion-filled and packed courtroom listened Tuesday as Santa
Clara County Judge Edward Lee sentenced Charles Spear to four years
in state prison followed by three years of probation. Also, Spears
will never drive again.
An emotion-filled and packed courtroom listened Tuesday as Santa Clara County Judge Edward Lee sentenced Charles Spear to four years in state prison followed by three years of probation. Also, Spears will never drive again.
Spear, 37, of Morgan Hill, pleaded no contest to felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving causing bodily injury in the death of Rosalie Peña, a member of the family that owns the Sinaloa Cafe.
The empty jury box contained the only open seats in the courtroom, which was filled with family members and supporters of both Pena and Spear. Because of his no-contest plea, which is the equivalent of a guilty plea except in a civil case, a jury was not convened to determine his sentence.
Tissues and handkerchiefs were in evidence as Pena’s brother, Steve Pena, came to the podium to talk about his sister. Tears were shed by many during the approxmately two hours of statements by family and friends. Thirteen people were heard, either through letters read by a victim advocate or others or as they addressed the court themselves, describing the loss of Pena. Seven people, including Spear himself and his wife, Christina, spoke in support of Spear.
Because he has already spent 86 days in jail and gets credit for 42 “good behavior” days, for a total of 128 days, he likely will spend less than two years in prison. He will have to pay an $800 fine and restitution, which has not been determined.
“We certainly understand why the judge would give him four years, instead of six,” Ofelia Pena McCain, Rosalie’s younger sister, said after the two and a half hour hearing. “But the actual time he serves will be less than two years. Does that make up for the loss of my sister? No. I feel for his (Spear’s) family, and I know this has been an extremely difficult time for them as well, but Daddy will be coming home. Rosalie won’t be coming home.”
The Pena family is not bitter and does not hold a grudge against Spear or his family, she said.
“We have to go on,” she said. “Life does go on, no matter how strange that seems now. But there is a lot of healing that has to take place, for their family, for our family, for the community. We have to find forgivness in our hearts.”
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Smith said he also understood the sentence, even if it was not the maximum penalty he had requested.
“This was a difficult case,” Smith said after the sentencing in the county courthouse complex in San Martin. “I am pleased that at the very least, the judge did not minimize the affect on the community of Rosalie’s loss. From all accounts, she was wonderful person.”
The accident that killed Peña, 50, of Morgan Hill, occurred Aug. 6, as Spear was driving from San Jose.
The crash occurred on Monterey Road, a short distance away from where the Siñola Cafe had been before it burned down.
According to witness William Camp, the only witness called to give evidence during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Spear was driving erratically long before the accident. Camp said he first saw the blue Yukon that Spear was driving when he was stopped at the traffic light at Palm Avenue on the southbound side of Monterey Highway.
“The light was still red when I heard the screeching of tires coming from behind me,” he said. It was apparent that the Yukon was not going to be able to stop in time, Camp said. Since the traffic from Palm Avenue was clear of the intersection, he drove through the intersection and saw that Spear in the Yukon did also.
“As he passed me in the slow lane, he waved at me, kind-of an apologetic wave I thought, and continued on,” said Camp.
Spear continued to drive erratically as he approached Morgan Hill, Camp said. By this time, he had called 911 and was describing to the dispatcher the reckless movements of the Yukon.
“He would come up dangerously close behind another car, maybe within half a car length, before hitting his brakes,” Camp recalled. “Then he would drift to the side of the road, to the shoulder area, and then drift back.”
Camp said the manuever was repeated several times, even when there was room in the other lane to pass the vehicle. As he and the Yukon Spear was driving approached Burnett Avenue, Camp said Spear did not slow down for the red traffic light, which turned green at the instant he entered the intersection. It was at that point that Camp spotted the silver Volvo Peña was driving, with Rose Casteneda as a passenger. The Volvo was driving “less than 20 mph,” Camp said, while the Yukon was traveling “at least 50 or 55 mph.”
The collision occurred at approximately 5:11 p.m. Peña was pulling slowly off the side of the road, onto the right shoulder, Camp said, behind a trailer that had been dropped from its truck and was parked on the side of the road. The Yukon swerved from the left lane, Camp said, to the side of the road directly into the Volvo, pushing it into the rear of the trailer.
The Yukon became airborne on impact, flipping several times before landing sideways, spinning, Camp said. Peña’s Volvo spun around and came to rest against a telephone pole. Peña was pronounced dead at the scene; Casteneda was taken to the hospital with major injuries. Spear was also taken to the hospital with injuries.
Judge Lee told the courtoom and Spear, clad in a red county jail jumpsuit with manacles around his wrists and ankles, that though there were many aspects of the case to consider, “everyone agrees this was an unimaginable tragedy.”
During the prosecution statement, Deputy DA Smith told the court that Spear had attempted to take his life because he was fired from his job and because of the reasons he was fired from his job. He had apparently taken Ibuprofen before leaving San Jose in an attempt to kill himself.
Toxicology reports from a private lab reported traces of the drug in his system.
“The callousness of the act,” said Smith, is the reason the maximum penalty of six years was sought. Spear could have gotten the minimum, or mitigated, sentence of two years, the maximum, or aggravated, sentence of six years, or the midterm sentence of four, which is what he received.
“What is callous about the act,” Smith said, “is that he was driving recklessly down Monterey Road, at rush hour on a weekday, running red lights and tailgating, and by all appearances driving this way deliberately.
“Any number of people could have been involved. There could have been multiple deaths. It didn’t matter in the end (to Spear) who was in the Volvo; what mattered to him was that he couldn’t go home. He had already attempted to kill himself with pills. He wanted to die. But he didn’t drive off a cliff or into a stationary object .
“Mr. Spear, you exposed every single person on the roadway that evening to danger. This is a heavily trafficked street, and any number of people were put at risk.”
Defense attorney Kip Davis said Spear was remorseful.
“From the beginning, it has only been his wish to take responsibility for his actions,” Davis said.
Davis denied that Spear used his vehicle to try to commit suicide.
“His ingestion of the Ibuprophen was an attempt to kill himself, but they were not effective, at least initially,” he said. “He was going back home, and the drive home was not another attempt to kill himself … When he was found in the vehcile after the accident, he was passed out and snoring. He actually expired at the hospital, but the staff was able to revive him.”
Davis said Spear entered a plea as soon as was possible in the proceedings “in the sincere hope that the Pena family would not have to endure more pain.”
Davis recommended probation for Spear.
During most of the testimonials, Spear sat facing forward, the speaker’s podium at his back, with head bowed. It was apparent that he, too, was sometimes moved to tears. As he read his own statement, his voice was so choked with tears that it was difficult to understand what he was saying. He ended by saying, “I only pray that with my sentence that the family will find some peace.”
Pena was described by her family and friends as a loving and caring individual, one who went out of her way to help others. Though she had no children of her own, they said, she reached out to the children of others and was a beloved aunt to nephews and nieces. She shepherded five godchildren in the formation of their faith, they said, and was a devoted daughter and sister and a best friend to many.
Steve Pena described his sister as a “second mother,” because she often had to take charge of him and their younger sister as his parents were busy running the restaurant. He asked Lee to sentence Spear with the maximum penalty, saying not even that would be enough to mitigate the pain his mother had suffered. He said maybe the maximum penalty would give others a message.
“Maybe the next Spear will think twice before trying to take his own life with an automobile,” he said.
Mary Pena, Rosalie’s mother, described in a letter read by a victim’s advocate the many ways her daughter helped at home and took care of her.
“She was a beautiful person with a great smile and a great laugh,” she said.
Ofelia McCain described her happy memories of her older sister, then took the courtroom through a painful rememberance of the day of the accident. In the end, she said, “it pains me the most that she died with fear in her heart … On behalf of my family and my community, I ask that there be justice.”
As the courtroom filled again after a recess of approximately 40 minutes, Lee told those gathered, “Some of you are going to be disappointed, even angry, with the decision I have reached.”
He described how he lives in Coyote Valley and drives Monterey Highway every day, has worked as a police officer and patrolled the very stretch of road where the accident occurred. He said he could “hear the pain and anguish, grief and frustration in your letters and those of you that were kind enough and strong enough to speak.”
But, he said, he could not give them justice.
“I also suspect that many if not most of you came to hear some justice,” he said. “But there is no justice now for Rosalie Pena. Justice for her would be if she had made that salon appointment, if she had presided over the reopening of her family restaurant, if she could enjoy the love and companionship of her family and friends for the rest of her natural life … What you are going to hear is an application of the law.”
Lee described his struggle in coming to a decision.
“How do I reconcile the views here: except for killing Ms. Pena, you (Spear) are a good man?” he said. “How do you reconcile the irreconcilable? You can’t.”
Spear had no prior criminal record and was described by his supporters in the courtroom as a loving husband and father who was active in his church and a faithful friend.
The family is attempting to reopen the family restaurant in downtown.
