HOLLISTER – On the Fourth of July, Gilroy
’s Robert Orabuena saw a life taken tragically before his eyes.
Now he’s watching bewilderedly as powers that be try to take away
his life, and he can’t stop asking, “why?”
HOLLISTER – On the Fourth of July, Gilroy’s Robert Orabuena saw a life taken tragically before his eyes. Now he’s watching bewilderedly as powers that be try to take away his life, and he can’t stop asking, “why?”
Why did he spend more than a month in jail charged with second-degree murder for a fatal traffic accident that he contends he didn’t cause? Why did a California Highway Patrol officer insist Orabuena was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident when three subsequent blood tests have shown no illegal drugs were in his system? Why is he being treated differently by prosecutors than the Caucasian high school teacher involved in a similar accident in San Benito County eight months ago?
In his first interview since the accident that changed his life, Orabuena, 41, spoke to The Dispatch last week with the hopes of telling his side of the story, which he feels has been polluted by recent newspaper accounts of his case.
Sitting in his attorney’s Hollister office, a visibly upset and shaken Orabuena said he’s still searching for answers.
“It was a nightmare. It’s still very confusing to me,” said the soft-spoken Orabuena, who spent 36 days in San Benito County jail charged with second-degree murder, felony gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of marijuana for his role in a fatal vehicle accident July 4 on a rural Hollister road. Orabuena faced 25 years to life in prison, and bail was set at $1 million – meaning $100,000 needed to be paid to get him out of San Benito County jail.
“The things they were saying were not true,” he said, “but no one would listen to me.”
Although a CHP officer conducting a series of sobriety tests following the fatal collision concluded Orabuena was under the influence of marijuana that afternoon, a series of lab blood tests showed no trace of illegal drugs in his system. The first test revealing Orabuena’s sobriety was shown to prosecutors within four days of the accident, but under state law the District Attorney’s office can wait for follow-up tests before amending charges.
When prosecutors reduced the charges on Aug. 6 to felony gross vehicular manslaughter, bail was dropped to $30,000, and on Aug. 8 he was able to return to his home on Festo Aglio Court that he built and shares with his wife, Yvette, and 1-year-old son. He said his life remains in shambles after learning he’d been laid off from his job laying fiber optics for Charter Cable due to his incarceration.
“I was away from my wife and son for so long,” Orabuena said. “Everyone was telling me they read about me in the newspaper. They all thought I did something very wrong. There was a very dark cloud over me that got worse every day. I feel very bad for what happened, but I know I did nothing wrong. I wish I could do it over again and be different.”
Traveling north on a two-lane, 55 mph speed-limit Fairview Road the afternoon of the Fourth, Orabuena attempted to make a left turn across the single yellow line into a friend’s driveway. As he made the turn in his Dodge Ram minivan, Salinas resident Joseph Judnick, driving southbound on a 2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, collided with Orabuena’s van, according to CHP reports.
Judnick, 48, suffered major head and body injuries and died almost immediately, despite attempts by Orabuena and several other passing pedestrians to administer CPR.
Judnick had lived most of his life in Morgan Hill. He was born in Burlingame, and moved to Morgan Hill in 1958. He graduated from Live Oak High School in 1972. While at Live Oak he was on the diving team and an active member in the San Martin 4-H.
Upon their arrival on the accident scene, CHP officers interviewed Orabuena and asked him if he’d been drinking or using drugs. He said he had not and was asked to pass several sobriety tests, according to Orabuena.
A free man – for now – Orabuena and his new court-appointed attorney Arthur Cantu are asking the San Benito County District Attorney to drop all charges, citing what they claimed was a shoddy CHP investigation, racism and political grandstanding by the prosecution.
Cantu said his investigations show that Judnick was speeding on the borrowed motorcycle before the high-impact collision, and that Orabuena should never have been charged with causing the accident.
Two separate CHP investigations concluded that Orabuena was at fault in the accident, although test results on the speed of Judnick’s motorcycle will not be available for another few weeks, according to CHP spokesman Terry Mayes.
“Our conclusion that Orabuena caused the collision has not changed,” she said. “At this time we do not have information on (Judnick’s) speed.”
If convicted of the new felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter, and a long list of misdemeanors including vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance, Orabuena could spend 15 years in prison. The sentence maximum is double normal standards because it would be Orabuena’s second felony conviction. In 1994 he was convicted of felony domestic battery, Cantu said. Contrary to previous newspaper reports, Orabuena has never been convicted of vehicular manslaughter, according to court records.
Unless Cantu can convince prosecutors to drop the charges against Orabuena, it could be a long court battle ahead.
Orabuena’s next court date is Aug. 20 at the San Benito County Courthouse in Hollister.
Staff Writer Jed Logan contributed to this story.
