More than two years after a high-speed crash on Highway 101 in Montecito killed a 77-year-old Santa Paula man, a 24-year-old Oxnard woman has been sentenced to state prison for gross vehicular manslaughter.
On Thursday, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced that Ricki Newton was sentenced to two years in state prison after pleading guilty in November to one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter. The sentence was imposed by Judge Von Deroian in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
The charge stems from an August 13, 2023, collision on the southbound side of Highway 101 near the Olive Mill Road exit, where Newton was driving at approximately 113 miles per hour and attempting to race a friend, according to prosecutors.
Newton lost control while trying to pass another vehicle, colliding with a Mercury Mountaineer and forcing it over an embankment. The Mountaineer’s passenger, Louis Hernandez Jr., was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. He was 77 years old.
During a lengthy sentencing hearing, prosecutors sought a state prison term, while defense counsel argued for felony probation. Judge Deroian ultimately imposed the two-year prison sentence.
At sentencing, family members described Hernandez as a “loving son, father, uncle, and dedicated hardworking man who made a better life for his family,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.
“This is a reminder that a brief bad decision involving reckless driving can have tragic and life-altering consequences,” said District Attorney John T. Savrnoch in a prepared statement. He also thanked the California Highway Patrol for its investigation, as well as the prosecution team “for seeking justice on behalf of Mr. Hernandez in this case.”
Newton, who was 22 at the time of the crash, was initially arrested at the scene in 2023 on suspicion of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter. That early case, filed as a bail matter, was later superseded by a formal felony prosecution. In March 2024, prosecutors filed the gross vehicular manslaughter charge that ultimately led to Wednesday’s sentence announced this Thursday.
