A 78-year-old West Sacramento woman has been sentenced to a year in county jail for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Yolo County Superior Court Judge Timothy Fall also sentenced Donna Marie McClure to five years felony probation and ordered her to pay more than $26,000 in restitution to the victim's family, according to a Yolo County District Attorney's Office news release.
A Yolo County jury on Aug. 12 found McClure guilty in the death of Jewell Mattos, who was struck by McClure's vehicle in the parking lot of a West Sacramento Raley's store Oct. 1, 2009.
According to witnesses and video surveillance, Mattos walked out of the Raley's market shortly after 10 a.m. and was halfway through the crosswalk when McClure ran into her with her car. McClure failed to stop until Mattos had been carried 20 to 30 feet.
Mattos suffered serious injuries and died the following day at UC Davis Medical Center. Evidence showed that nothing had obstructed McClure's view and that she had more than adequate opportunity to brake before the crosswalk, officials said.
The prosecutor argued that McClure committed gross negligence because she had been repeatedly warned by her doctor and the Department of Motor Vehicles that she could not safely drive because of lapses of consciousness, judgment and attention caused by chronic alcoholism.
Officials said McClure admitted to police that she knew her license had been suspended. There was also testimony that nothing prevented McClure's passenger from driving the car that day, but McClure told police that she had too much pride to ask her friends for rides.
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