Suspect in deadly San Jose DUI crash that killed community officer Long Pham out on bail
San Jose officials including Mayor Matt Mahan are objecting to a judge's recent decision to release the suspect in a deadly DUI crash that killed a community service officer on bail.
The suspect, 44-year-old Juan Huerta-Palacios of Morgan Hill, is accused of being under the influence when he struck two San Jose community service officers who were doing traffic control on Monterey Rd. early last August.
Community Service Officer Long Pham died in the collision and Community Service Officer Veronica Baer was hospitalized for several days with serious injuries.
Pham was born in Vietnam, but raised from childhood in San Jose. He is survived by his parents and a brother. The community officer was honored in a public memorial held in late August.
Palacios was being held on half a million dollar bail for charges related to injuring Baer and killing Pham, including a murder charge based on previous convictions for alcohol related reckless driving.
The release has raised objections from San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office and the San Jose Police Department. The SJPD posted a statement on X Wednesday night protesting the release of Huerta-Palacios.
"Previous warnings to this defendant about the dangers of drunken driving did not prevent him from killing Long Pham. Why should we think that these restrictions adequately protect the public from his bad judgement again?" the statement read. "An officer is dead and the man who killed him was let out on bail to go home against our objection, against our community's objection."
Mahan spoke to CBS News Bay Area about the decision on Thursday and called it a miscarriage of justice.
"It was a needless, senseless death. And one that was entirely preventable, because it was driven by repeat bad decisions by an individual," Mahan said.
Mahan says the judge's ruling is not only slap in the face to victims in this case, but also a public safety risk.
"I think that it does create unnecessary risk to have someone back in the community who has not yet actually faced a consequence or gotten the treatment that they need and proven that they are on a path to turning their lives around and are no longer going to endanger the community," Mahan said.
While critics of the decision argued that Huerta-Palacios's history should have made him ineligible for bail, Loyola Law School Prof. Jessica Levinson said bail is determined at the judge's discretion and there are numerous factors to consider.
"We're looking at flight risk, we're looking at the person's threat to the community, the person's threat to themselves, whether or not they are an alleged repeat offender," Levinson said. "Typically in a murder case, you might not see that somebody gets out on bail. Or, at the very least, you might see a lot of conditions and restrictions attached to that granting of bail."
Levinson said it's unusual for judges to grant bail in cases where there's evidence of repeated offenses, but when it is granted, the judge is likely to implement strict bail stipulations that prevent the suspect from getting behind the wheel or even leaving the house.
"This is not a typical murder charge in the sense of, this is not first or second degree murder. We have a charge here of murder based on a tragic death and also on a previous conviction for driving under the influence," Levinson. "So you know, is this the typical case for granting bail? Maybe not. Is it outside the judge's discretion in looking at those factors? Probably not."
According to Levinson, the judge ultimately could reverse the decision if the plaintiffs can bring new evidence to show that the suspect is a danger to the community.
Kara St. Cyr contributed to this report.
