LAKE COUNTY — A trial date of Aug. 12 was set in a Monday hearing in the Lake County Superior Court in the case of a three-year-old vehicular manslaughter case, according to Lake County deputy district attorney John Langan.
Upper Lake resident Sean Thomas Selig, 23, is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony hit and run in connection with an October 6, 2004 crash. Selig allegedly fled the scene where the overturned 2001 GMC Sierra truck he was allegedly driving was found with passenger Sammy Solario pinned underneath the passenger”s side of the truck”s crushed cabin. Solario died as a result of the accident.
“The new trial date gives me time to get ready, if in fact I will be the attorney on it. It”s either going to be myself or (Lake County District Attorney) Jon Hopkins, depending on our schedules,” Langan said.
The case fell to Langan after former prosecutor David McKillop left the Lake County District Attorney”s Office Feb. 6. Langan was named the new prosecutor for driving under the influence (DUI) cases, according to Hopkins. Hopkins was involved with the investigation and a preliminary hearing held in 2005, as the Record-Bee previously reported.
The Lake County District Attorney”s Office filed charges nearly a year after the accident following an investigation by the California Highway Patrol. Selig was booked into the Lake County Jail on Aug. 1, 2005 and released on bail four days later. His bail amount was $25,000. If convicted, McKillop said Selig could face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
McKillop told the court in a Jan. 31 court appearance that he estimated the case would take nine court days to try. McKillop called the case “complex,” telling the court that witnesses would be called who would come from out of the county and from out of the state, and that there were some witnesses who could not be found.
Selig”s Lakeport defense attorney Judy Conard refused to comment on the case Monday night.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
