San Clemente woman convicted of 2nd-degree murder for drunken crash that killed 3 Las Vegas teens

A San Clemente woman who drunkenly crashed into a stopped vehicle at a Huntington Beach intersection, killing three Las Vegas teenagers, was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder.

A Santa Ana jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Bani Marcela Duarte, 29, guilty in the deaths of Brooke Hawley, 17, Albert Rossi, 17 and Dylan Mack, 18, who were killed in the early morning crash on March 29, 2018.

A family member of one of the victims exclaimed “Thank you God!” while the verdicts were read, as Duarte dropped her head and held her face in her hands. The courtroom gallery was filled to capacity with family and supporters of both the victim’s and Duarte.

During the trial, Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman described Duarte as consuming an “unfathomable amount of alcohol” before leaving a Newport Beach bar and mistakenly turning northbound onto Pacific Coast Highway as she intended to head home to San Clemente.

Three men in a nearby vehicle spotted Duarte hitting a curb while turning onto PCH. They followed after Duarte, believing she was too drunk to drive, and called 911.

Duarte sped up as she approached a red light at PCH and Magnolia Street, crashing into the back of stopped Toyota Corolla at nearly 80 mph. Three of the teens in the Corolla were killed in the fiery collision, and a fourth was seriously injured. All four were high school students in Orange County for spring break.

A body-worn camera on a Huntington Beach officer captured a heavily-inebriated, seemingly confused and at-times argumentative Duarte shortly after the crash. The footage, which was shown during the trial, included Duarte repeatedly requesting a ride home from officers, asking “Did somebody just die? What is going on?” and expressing frustration that the crash occurred on one of the few occasions she was able to spend a night out away from her four children.

Duarte had previously been arrested for driving under the influence in San Clemente and had lost her license for her year. But she had not been given a formal warning, known as a Watson advisement, that if she again drank and drove and killed someone she could be charged with murder.

Such warnings are routinely cited by prosecutors in cases where repeat DUI drivers are charged with second-degree murder rather than a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. Duarte’s attorney, Justin Glenn, told jurors that since she hadn’t previously received that warning, there wasn’t enough evidence to prove she knew that driving under the influence was dangerous to human life, and that she decided to do it anyway.

“Make no doubt about it, she killed those people, it happened, it is on her,” Glenn told jurors Tuesday during his closing arguments. “The question is if what happened constituted murder.”

The prosecutor pointed to a comment Duarte made to a friend in a call from jail that “I thought I’d be OK” driving home. He also noted that Duarte had previously commented on social media about the dangers of drinking and driving.

“She just wanted to get home, she didn’t care who or what was in her way,” Feldman told jurors. “This is an unmitigated tragedy from start to finish.”

Duarte is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Oct. 30. She faces up to 51 years to life in prison.