Last Updated on July 19, 2017 by CCAR Staff
Four and a half years to the day after a vehicle collision in Colton that killed two Riverside seventh-graders and a grandmother, the driver was found guilty of three counts of second-degree murder.
Michael Dwayne Hughes, 34, of Moreno Valley faces 45 years to life in prison at sentencing, scheduled for October, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said.
The jury had been deliberating since July 6. The verdict came back Tuesday.
“I’m still in shock right now,” Simone Daly, mother of 13-year-old victim Haven Alexandria Penman, said Wednesday.
“It’s just four and a half years of waiting, and then to see that we weren’t wrong, we weren’t fighting for nothing — it felt like we finally brought justice to my daughter and her friend,” Daly said.
The case dragged on partly because the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office sent the case back to Colton police for more investigation, and because Hughes changed attorneys.
Hughes was driving drunk on a suspended license and on parole the night of Jan. 18, 2013, when his car collided on Main Street in Colton with a car being driven by Le Mason, 56, of Riverside.
Mason was taking her granddaughter, 12-year-old Kylan Allen, and Haven, who was Kylan’s best friend and Woodcrest Christian Middle School classmate, to a church dance. According to police, Mason made a left turn in front of Hughes and he broadsided their car, causing it to overturn.
Mason and Haven died at the scene, while Kylan suffered a brain injury and died a week later. Hughes was uninjured.
Hughes was on probation because of a 2008 conviction in Orange County for driving under the influence. That probation had been revoked three times for violations, court records showed.
After that conviction, he signed a waiver “acknowledging that drunken driving could potentially kill others and lead to murder charges,” according to a District Attorney’s Office news release. That turned the Colton crash into what’s known as a “Watson murder” case.
Hughes was arrested the night of the crash, but the next month after police submitted their case to the DA’s Office, prosecutors rejected it.
Police kept at the investigation, looking for evidence to prove Hughes wasn’t just drunk but caused the accident and allow for a felony prosecution.
Police sought out new witnesses, obtained additional search warrants and enlisted the help of the California Highway Patrol to conduct a crash reconstruction.
In October 2013, Hughes was rearrested in Victorville and charged.
At his preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that a Breathalyzer test showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.10 and his blood tested at 0.14. He was estimated to have been going 63 mph, over the limit of 55 mph, and investigators believed he was on the phone, according to testimony. When Mason turned in front of him, he slammed on the brakes, causing all four wheels to lock, and went skidding into the victims’ car.
Daly said she was pleased that a Watson case was successfully prosecuted.
“It was a big success in terms of that advisement, and it’s not just justice for us and the girls — it’s justice for everyone else on the road because we got one less person on the street who can destroy other people’s lives,” she said.
