LAKEPORT — A judge Thursday scheduled the preliminary hearing for a man charged with five counts, including second-degree murder, to begin Wednesday in Department 4 in Clearlake.
Alejandro Aurelio Arias, 29, allegedly drove through a red light at the intersection of highways 29 and 175 in Lakeport while traveling around 100 miles per hour on Sept. 11, 2009 and crashed into another car, killing the driver and severely injuring two of the three passengers.
The driver of the other car, 41-year-old Charlane Hill, was pronounced dead at the scene. Hill”s front-right passenger, Clearlake resident Maria Holt, and Hill”s young niece, who was riding in the back seat, were flown to out-of-county hospitals with major injuries, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported.
CHP officers arrested Arias the night of the crash, but he wasn”t booked into the Lake County Jail until March 31, 2010 because he had been transported to the hospital and law enforcement”s investigation had been ongoing until that point.
Arias pleaded not guilty to all five counts, including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and three counts of reckless driving, and denied several special allegations.
Judge Richard C. Martin scheduled the estimated daylong preliminary hearing to begin Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. in Department 4.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
