Last week, Franky Provencio, 19 and from Pomona, was arrested for murder amongst other charges after it was suspected that he drove drunk, collided with another vehicle, and killed the six-year-old passenger of the other vehicle.
On Tuesday of last week, Provencio veered his GMC Yukon into oncoming traffic on White Avenue in Pomona and collided with a pickup truck. The pickup truck, driven by Peter George of Upland, was also carrying his six-year-old son, Julian Anthony George. While Peter George was hospitalized in critical condition, Julian Anthony George was pronounced dead at the scene. Provencio and his passenger were also hospitalized, although the passenger was released shortly thereafter.
Officers responding to the scene determined that Provencio was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Officers also determined that George had been drinking prior to the collision. Julian was not properly secured in a child seat.
Provencio was found to have suffered a prior DUI conviction from last year that he was still on probation for. Additionally, Provencio was driving on a suspended license.
Provencio was arrested after he was released from the hospital late last week and now faces charges of murder, DUI causing great bodily injury, and possession of a controlled substance. He is being held on $2.63 million at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles.
While the crime of murder is generally reserved for people who intend on killing another person, California has created an exception that allows prosecutors to charge murder for DUI-related collisions that kill someone else if the suspect has suffered a prior DUI conviction.
Prior to 1981, a person who killed someone while driving under the influence could not be charged and convicted of murder. However, the landmark case of People v. Watson changed that.
California Penal Code section 187(a) provides that “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being…with malice aforethought.” “Malice” refers to the deliberate intention to unlawfully kill someone else. However, malice can be also be “implied” and implied malice exists when a person knowingly engages in an act that is dangerous to human life and they engage the act with a conscious disregard for human life.
The court in the Watson case found that if the facts surrounding a DUI-related fatality support a finding of “implied malice,” second degree murder can be charged. In other words, if a person engages in driving under the influence when they know that it is dangerous to human life to do so, and they kill someone, they can be charged with murder.
Now the question becomes, “Did the person know it was dangerous to human life to drive drunk?”
While we all know that it’s dangerous to drive drunk, since Watson, courts started expressly advising people who have been convicted of DUI, on the record, that it is, in fact, dangerous to drive drunk. This was not because the court actually thought that the defendant didn’t know it, but rather to ensure that the prosecutor could charge murder instead of manslaughter upon a subsequent DUI causing the death of someone.
Having handled hundreds of DUI cases myself in Los Angeles County, I can tell you almost positively that Provencio was told the “Watson advisement” by the judge while being convicted in his first DUI case, or at a minimum signed a document acknowledging the “Watson advisement,” or both.
Provencio is due at the Pomona Courthouse on June 5th.
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