The family of a USC student killed in a hit-and-run accident near the school expressed outrage that the driver and her husband rejected a plea deal, the victim's sister said Friday.
“...We expected these people to take responsibility for what they've done, and we're so disappointed that they haven't,” Adrianna Bachan's older sister, Alexandra, tearfully told reporters outside court after attorneys met with Claudia Cabrera and Josue Luna.
Cabrera, 30, is charged with felony hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in connection with the crash that killed 18-year-old Adrianna Bachan and injured 19-year-old Marcus Garfinkle about 3 a.m. March 29 as they crossed Jefferson Boulevard at Hoover Street.
Police said the driver ran a red light before hitting the students.
After the car hit Garfinkle, the driver stopped long enough for a passenger to pull the man off the hood.
Authorities said earlier they believed the passenger was Cabrera's husband, Luna, 33, who also is charged with felony hit-and-run.
Cabrera and Luna are now due back at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Aug. 10 for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require them to stand trial.
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“There's so much harm that they've caused us,” the victim's sister said.
She told reporters that her parents are serving “life sentences” of “grief.”
The victim's family members had been told to be at the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, but left court after being told that the apparent plea deal wasn't going to happen, said family spokesman John Welch.
“We wanted (them) to take the plea for the simple fact that Josue, and it seemed that Claudia, wanted to take responsibility for what happened. It appears that the lawyers have talked them out of it,” Welch said.
“It's very, very disappointing. At the end of all this, nothing's going to bring Adrianna back. It would have been great to put this all behind us Friday, but it's just going to keep going and going,” Welch said. “We'll get our day in court and let justice take its place.”
Welch said he had just finished speaking with the victim's mother, Carmen, after getting the news that the apparent plea deal fell through, and that she was “very upset.” He described Adrian's father as “still so grief- stricken.”
Cabrera was arrested April 2 after $235,000 in reward money was posted and Bachan's mother made a series of televised emotional pleas seeking the public's help in capturing the suspects.
Luna was arrested April 18 in San Ysidro while crossing back into the United States from Mexico.
