LAKEPORT — A Lucerne man pleaded no contest to second-degree murder on Monday, more than 18 months after causing a car accident on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff that led to the death of an 84-year-old Nice resident.
Barton Farris West, 57, also admitted to a special allegation of having been convicted of a prior serious felony outside the state of California, which was a 1980 conviction in Oklahoma for his role in a bank robbery.
West had faced three other felonies, including gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing bodily injury, and several special allegations stemming from the Sept. 15, 2009 incident.
California Highway Patrol officers testified during a preliminary hearing in October that witnesses reported seeing West”s blue Toyota Tercel traveling westbound on the cutoff but drifting several times into the eastbound lane, according to court transcripts.
The Tercel sideswiped a silver Dodge Caravan before striking a tan Ford Focus driven by Jack Green, according to officers” testimony.
Green sustained major injuries, was transported to Santa Rosa and spent the next three months in several hospitals, according to the transcripts.
A Lake County District Attorney”s Office investigator testified that Green died on Dec. 29, 2009 in a Nevada hospital and a subsequent autopsy found that “multiple injuries due to blunt force trauma due to a motor vehicle collision” caused Green”s death.
An on-scene preliminary screening determined West”s blood alcohol content to be 0.258 and a subsequent blood analysis found his level to be around 0.23, according to court documents. West was on probation for a November 2008 DUI conviction at the time of the crash.
West was booked into the Lake County Jail the afternoon of Sept. 16, 2009 on charges of DUI causing injury and probation violation. The additional charges were added following Green”s death.
Judge Andrew S. Blum ruled in October that the prosecution had established the “strong suspicion standard” for the four felonies and special allegations during the preliminary hearing and ordered West to stand trial.
West”s attorney, Komnith Moth, said Monday that the case ultimately proved “too difficult to take to trial.”
Blum accepted the plea on behalf of the court on Monday and scheduled West to be sentenced on April 25 at 8:15 a.m. in Department 3. West faces a maximum prison term of 20 years to life.
Blum also terminated West”s DUI probation as unsuccessful.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
