Man accused in crash into Calif. home charged with murder
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. – Kourosh Keshmiri, a 27-year-old convicted drunk driver who allegedly crashed a car into a California home Sunday, killing a man as he slept, was charged with murder Monday, reports CBS Los Angeles.
Keshmiri, of Mission Viejo, is being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
Keshmiri was booked Sunday for felony drunken driving with a prior conviction. He also faces charges in a separate case from June 2013, reports the station.
In the June case, Keshmiri faces a misdemeanor count each of driving under the influence of alcohol with a prior, driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or more with a prior and sentencing enhancements and allegations for having a blood alcohol level over .15 percent and having a prior DUI conviction from 2010. He is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 23 in this case.
Keshmiri’s attorney, Christopher Jafari, declined comment, according to the station. He said he would be meeting with Keshmiri’s family to discuss his client’s case.
Prosecutors say Keshmiri was going 50 mph in a 25 mph residential neighborhood in Mission Viejo Sunday when he lost control of his car and crashed into the bedroom of 60-year-old Kenneth Jackson, killing him. A second man inside the home escaped injury, police said.
Video from the scene showed a late-model maroon Cadillac launching into the
house. When deputies responded to the scene, Keshmiri
displayed objective signs of intoxication and performed poorly on a field
sobriety test, prosecutors say, according to the station.
Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said there there were two other men inside the Cadillac with Keshmiri. Both suffered minor injuries and required no medical attention.
Keshmiri was charged earlier this year with driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor, according to court records obtained by the station. In 2010, Keshmiri was put on three years of informal probation, which expired in September, and was ordered to participate in an alcohol program for first offenders, according to court records.
If convicted of the charges in Sunday’s crash, Keshmiri reportedly faces up to 15 years to life in prison.