September 20-2013
An Iranian green card holder in California has been sentenced to almost five years in prison after he killed a woman by running her down on a sidewalk while he was driving under medication.
Hossein Tabrizi, 54, received the four-year, eight-month sentence during an emotional hearing after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and to driving under the influence causing injury.
After serving the sentence, Tabrizi will likely be deported to Iran, his attorney, William Gagen, said.
Prosecutors said Tabrizi was high on the prescription anti-anxiety medication Loraze-pam—also known as Ativan—when he left his job at a tire shop the evening of Sept. 8, 2012, and got behind the wheel of his truck. He was driving home through the city of Walnut Creek, which is about 20 miles east of Berkeley in Contra Costa County.
He dozed off and drove onto a sidewalk, crashing into 52-year-old Sherry Hicks and her daughter-in-law, 24-year-old Sheng Hahn. Hicks, who was visiting from Santa Barbara in Southern California, died at the scene. Hahn survived a two-week coma.
After tearfully entering guilty pleas Friday, Tabrizi turned to read a letter to Sheng Hahn and Hicks’ relatives.
“I wish to tell you how sorry I am for causing you and your family so much pain,” he said, sobbing. “Most of all, I’m sorry for taking your mother away from you and your family…. I should not have gotten behind the wheel after consuming the sleeping pills…. This freak accident wouldn’t have happened had I stayed home.”
Tabrizi’s sister also read a letter to the family to express the family’s condolences.
At the time of the crash, Hicks and her husband were in town visiting her son, Casey Hahn, and his wife, who had married just five months earlier, according to relatives.
Sheng Hahn was in court and approached the courtroom podium with a slight limp to address Tabrizi.
“Because of you, I have experienced extreme pain, stress, depression … and fear,” she said tearfully. “I know everything I lost cannot be replaced.”
Casey Hahn also addressed the court and described his mother as a “selfless, loving, joyful and compassionate person” with whom he shared a strong bond. The court also heard from Hicks’ husband, her mother and Sheng Hahn’s mother, who spoke through a Mandarin interpreter.
The Contra Costa Times reported that Tabrizi has a prior “driving under the influence” (DUI) conviction in Ventura County, near Los Angeles, and other arrests there for suspicion of DUI and public intoxication.
Prosecutors said that 20 minutes before the crash, Tabrizi was seen passed out behind the wheel of his truck at a downtown stoplight. Another motorist shook him awake and called police. An officer pulled him over a short while later, gave him a sobriety test and let him go, prosecutors said.