Francisco Alvarez Sentenced Four Years for 2018 Escondido Double Fatal Crash

A driver who slammed into another car at an Escondido intersection in 2018, killing two people in the other vehicle, was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison.

Francisco Andres Alvarez, 32, pleaded guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and great bodily injury allegations for the March 25, 2018, crash that killed Brandon Contreras and Ana Lira, both 19.

Police say Alvarez ran a red light and struck the victims’ Mustang. The crash also seriously injured an underage boy who was riding in the victims’ vehicle.

Prosecutors alleged that a blood test revealed alcohol, marijuana and cocaine were in Alvarez’s system at the time of the crash.

However, a three-justice panel from the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled last year that Alvarez’s blood was illegally drawn without a warrant while he was unconscious or unresponsive.

According to the appellate panel’s written opinion, Alvarez was taken to a hospital after the crash and became unresponsive about 45 minutes after speaking with a police officer. The officer then called for a phlebotomist, who drew Alvarez’s blood about two-and-a-half hours after the crash.

The officer who obtained the blood draw testified that “getting the warrant would have created substantial delays primarily because he was the only officer at the hospital, he did not have the proper paperwork, and other officers were still investigating the scene,” according to the panel’s opinion.

At the time of the ruling, Alvarez had already pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison, but his convictions were reversed as a result of the appellate court’s opinion.

While the United States Supreme Court ruled that warrantless blood draws could be performed on unconscious people suspected of driving under the influence, those blood draws are only permitted under “exigent circumstances,” such as when evidence faces an imminent threat of being lost or destroyed. The appeals court found those circumstances did not exist in Alvarez’s case.

Before the appellate ruling was released in December, Alvarez was arrested in another DUI case, in which prosecutors said he drove drunk last July. Alvarez pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in that case and was sentenced Monday in both cases to a stipulated four year prison term.

City News Service contributed to this article.