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SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 27-year-old man who plowed his pickup into a crowd of pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Fullerton five years ago was convicted Thursday of hit-and-run, but a mistrial was declared on a charge alleging he was impaired, with jurors unable to reach a decision on that count.
Jurors deadlocked 7-5 in favor of guilt on the felony count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, prompting Orange County Superior Court Gary Paer to declare a mistrial on that charge for Christopher Jose Solis of Anaheim.
Solis was convicted of a felony count of failing to stop at a hit-and- run accident with injury as well as misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run with property damage and possession of a controlled substance. Jurors reached verdicts on those counts Wednesday at the end of the day, but they weren't announced until Thursday morning. Solis was scheduled to be sentenced on those charges May 3.
But the defense and prosecution will discuss a possible plea deal that could wrap up the case on March 22, when a hearing is scheduled to consider how to proceed with the deadlocked charge.
Deputy District Attorney Caitlin Harrington asked Paer to have the defendant, who is out on bail, taken into custody, but the judge declined.
Solis' attorney, Alan Spears, noted that his client spent six months behind bars in the case and has made every court date since being released.
"It's preposterous to make this motion on a flight risk," Spears said. "He's had time to go to Tibet. It's just sour grapes."
Paer said Solis has "been out on bail for five years without a hiccup. I don't see a real need to throw him into custody after how this played out."
Still to be decided is an infraction for possession of marijuana and a sentencing enhancement allegation of being armed with a vehicle in the commission of the hit and run, Paer said.
"I don't even know it's even applicable anymore," Paer said of the sentencing enhancement.
On Feb. 7, Paer dismissed two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon based on a defense motion that prosecutors failed to prove the charges.
Solis is accused of plowing into the crowd of pedestrians just before 1:50 a.m. Feb. 10, 2019.
Solis "made a calculated decision to swerve onto the sidewalk ... into a crowd of people," Harrington said in her opening statement of the trial.
Riley Hoover sustained complex facial fractures and was left with "lifelong injuries" in the crash, Harrington said. Another victim sustained a dislocated hip, while a woman suffered a broken pelvis, the prosecutor added. One man suffered a burned foot, and another woman's teeth were cracked.
Shortly after midnight the day of the crash, Solis was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on the San Diego (5) Freeway in Mission Viejo and cited and released for driving under the influence of marijuana and Xanax, Harrington said.
The defendant continued driving to a music studio in Santa Ana, where he smoked marijuana, Harrington said. From there, he drove to downtown Fullerton where there are a lot of clubs and restaurants, the prosecutor said.
When he got back into his Toyota Tacoma he "zoomed down an alley on Santa Fe" where he first collided with a car driven by Uber driver Hector Quiroz.
The prosecutor showed video that showed Solis swerving and plowing into the pedestrians.
"Defendant hopped a planter and collided with a tree ... the only thing that stopped him," Harrington said.
Multiple bystanders angrily confronted Solis and a fight broke out as they detained him until police arrived, Harrington said. Some of the bystanders lifted the defendant's truck up to free two of the trapped victims, the prosecutor added.
Solis told police, "These drunk people got in my way," Harrington alleged. "There's zero accountability for the choice that he made," she said.
Solis failed field sobriety tests, the prosecutor said.
"It was clear the defendant was impaired by something," Harrington said. The "white and green film" he had on his mouth was consistent with marijuana ingestion, Harrington said.
Blood tests showed he had marijuana in his system as well as flualprazolam, which is "the version (of Xanax) you get on the street ... for partying," Harrington alleged. Fullerton police found three more of the depressant pills in the truck, she said.
Spears said the prosecution's case was a "gross oversimplification" of what happened.
"The Fullerton police rushed to judgment," he said.
Spears said he would "prove" that his client, "while maybe the proximate cause of this accident, is not criminally responsible."
He added that the jurors would "have to consider whether Uber and Lyft drivers were negligent." The attorney said the drivers' alleged double parking to pick up fares in the area may have "broken the chain of causation."
The ride-share and taxi drivers have a designated area to park to pick up their patrons, but they were not using them, Spears said.
Solis' "brains were scrambled a little bit" after crashing into a tree and getting beaten by the angry mob, Spears said.
The defendant had an expert testify that an event data recorder retrieved from Solis' truck showed he was only going about 11 mph when he swerved away from one of the ride-share vehicles, Spears said.