01.12.2002
Two drivers plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter
By Onell R. Soto
STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2002
VISTA -- Two men from San Clemente pleaded guilty yesterday to vehicular manslaughter charges stemming
from a crash south of San Clemente last fall in which a passenger was killed.
George Cattanach, 36, admitted he was intoxicated when he was speeding on El Camino Real just east of Cristianitos Road about 1 a.m. Oct. 14.
California Highway Patrol officers who investigated the crash said Cattanach was racing another car.
In exchange for the guilty plea, a Superior Court judge said Cattanach would be sentenced to no more than six years in prison at a hearing scheduled for March 21, a prosecutor said.
Richard Kentner, 37, of Dana Point, a passenger in Cattanach's Dodge Neon, suffered fatal head injuries when the car struck a parked pickup.
Kentner was chief of operations for an Internet firm in Dana Point.
Jason Williams, 21, who was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse next to Cattanach, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter without intoxication. He will be sentenced to probation as part of the plea agreement reached yesterday, a prosecutor said.
Both men faced prison sentences of up to 10 years had they gone to trial and been convicted.
Onell Soto: (760) 476-8211; [email protected]