Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA (1888PressRelease)
July 20, 2007 - Charges were filed against a teenager of Redwood City with the killing of two royal family members of Tongan and their chauffeur in consequence to a freeway crash in 2006. Lately, the attorney handling her case, requested that the jury members convict her for a misdemeanor and last week, Thursday the jury obliged. After the conviction was announced, Edith Delgado, 19 years old showed her relief by weeping quietly as she turned to her attorney.
The verdicts convicted Delgado for misdemeanor on three counts of vehicular killing but acquitted her of felonious indictment that might have her put in state prison. The convictions were read in Redwood City courtroom, packed with people.
Delgado could have been convicted to spend eight years time in the state prison if she had been found guilty as charged of the felonious killing last July 5 of Tongan royal family members and their driver. The killed royals were identified as Prince Tu'ipelehake, 55 years old and his wife Princess Kaimana Aleamotu'a Tuku'aho, 46 years old. Their driver was Vinisia Hefa, 36 years old and resident of East Palo Alto.
On July 5 Delgado’s car, a Ford Mustang sideswiped the Ford Explorer of the royal couple close by the Willow Road of Highway 101 located in Menlo Park. The sideswipe crash caused the SUV to roll over a number of times.
The prosecuting panel told the jury that Delgado was racing with another car and kept up with more or less 80 mph when the catastrophic crash occurred. Delgado’s lawyer denied these statements.
As Delgado have declared guilty for the misdemeanors, she is going to spend nothing more than a year in the county jail for every misdemeanor count she was sentenced with last Aug. 24.
Prosecuting attorneys are now researching if there are provisions in the state law allowing the sentences on ever count to proceed consecutively. They are still undecided on the sentence they will be seeking.
If the state law requires Delgado to serve the convictions sentenced against her concurrently, then the maximum time she would spend in jail would run for a year and no further jail time. Ever since the day of the crash, Delgado had remained in jail since she was unable to post the bail of $1million.
She was only released on Thursday night after the announcement of verdicts wherein Judge John Runde lowered the bail bond to $40,000. Her family posted the bail for her.
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