Last Updated on August 15, 2018 by CCAR Staff
A Perris man with a conviction for driving under the influence has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder after authorities say he drove drunk the wrong way on the 91 Freeway in Riverside last week, causing a collision that killed two women and injured a third person.
Elias Ceja Lemus Jr., 29, was also charged with two counts of causing injury while driving under the influence in connection with the Aug. 10 crash. He is in custody at Robert Presley Detention Center, with bail set at $2 million.
Lemus’ arraignment, set for Wednesday, Aug. 15, was postponed to Aug. 31.
He is being prosecuted in what is called a “Watson” murder case, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. Drivers who cause fatal crashes are often charged with vehicular manslaughter, a felony, if at the time of the crash they were doing something illegal, such as texting or speeding. The charge can be a misdemeanor if the crash was caused by something like inattention.
But drivers such as Lemus who have previous DUI convictions can be charged with murder under the implied-malice theory that they are aware that driving while drunk can cause injury to others. Lemus was convicted of misdemeanor DUI in 2009, Superior Court records show.
Watson prosecutions are a result of a 1981 state Supreme Court decision that upheld Robert Lee Watson’s second-degree murder conviction. After drinking at a Redding bar on Jan. 3, 1979, Watson collided with another vehicle and two people died.
In the Riverside crash, which happened between Arlington and Central avenues, Lemus was driving west in the eastbound lanes about 1:45 a.m., the California Highway Patrol said, when the collision occurred. Ethel Granados, 74, of San Bernardino, and Fatima Granados, 52, of Riverside, were killed.
A third person, a man, was hospitalized with major injuries.
