Last Updated on March 6, 2021 by CCAR Staff
A Corona man has been charged with murder after an 88-year-old woman died following a November 2020 collision that police say the man caused by driving drunk.
Already on probation after a 2019 drunken-driving conviction, he was charged Thursday, March 4, according to officials and court records.
On Nov. 22, Corona police say, Oliver Iturbeasiain, 25, crossed the double-yellow lines on Lincoln Avenue and struck head-on a car carrying a 28-year-old man and the elderly woman.
“Officers noted an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from (Iturbeasiai) and a blood sample was obtained and later tested,” police said in a news release. “(Iturbeasiai’s) blood-alcohol content was found to be over three times the legal limit (of 0.8 percent).”
The woman died Feb. 18, and Iturbeasiai was arrested Monday.
On Aug. 7, 2019, Iturbeasiai pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DUI count. He was sentenced to 20 days in custody and three years of probation. The terms of his probation included attending a Mothers Against Drunk Driving panel session and a first-offenders’ DUI class. He also was required to install an ignition interlock device on his car that would prevent it from starting if a breath test for alcohol exceeded a certain limit.
Iturbeasiai was charged Thursday with driving without the interlock device, proof of insurance and a valid driver’s license. He was also charged with second-degree murder under a state statute that says a motorist should have known about the dangers of drunken driving because of a previous conviction.
Iturbeasiai is in custody in lieu of a $1 million bail. His attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.
The name and city of residence of the woman who died were not available Friday.
