Monterey man faces life sentence after he's convicted of causing death while evading police
MONTEREY (CBS SF) – A judge found a Monterey man guilty of several felony charges after he crashed his car and killed his passenger while trying to evade police last February, the Monterey County District Attorney's office announced Tuesday.
Judge Jennifer O'Keefe found 34-year-old Monterey resident Nicholas Howder guilty of evading a peace officer causing death, evading a peace officer against traffic, evading an officer with willful disregard, vehicular manslaughter, and driving on a suspended license.
The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 16 of last year, when a Salinas police officer attempted to pull Howder over for driving a possibly stolen vehicle. Howder initially complied, but then he fled and led a five-mile chase that saw him blow four red lights and reach speeds over 100 miles an hour.
"The pursuit ended when Howder lost control of the vehicle and struck a pole, sending the vehicle flipping through the air," Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni's office noted in a press release. "The vehicle landed upside down in a ditch off Blanco Road at Armstrong. Howder's female passenger was killed in the collision."
Howder has three felony convictions, so under the state's Three Strikes Law, he faces a state prison sentence of 25 years to life when he is sentenced on Feb. 9.
