DA: Man guilty after DUI crash kills baby, mom near Cutler
TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Tulare County Superior Court prosecutors secured a guilty verdict against a Visalia man after a DUI crash prompted a pregnant woman’s early delivery and death along with her baby, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.
According to the DA, on June 15, 2018, around 9:30 p.m., CHP officers were dispatched to a collision on Highway 63 south of Avenue 392 near Cutler. When they arrived, they found two vehicles involved in a head-on crash. 29-year-old David Edma of Visalia was unconscious and pinned in his vehicle.
The DA says the occupants of the second vehicle were a family including an adult male driver, his wife who was 20 weeks pregnant, and three minor children. The expectant mother was rushed to medical facilities in Fresno where the baby was delivered -but both the mother and child died.
Officials say the remaining victims were treated at other medical facilities after suffering broken clavicles, pulmonary contusions, broken hips, and a perforated bowel.
According to the district’s attorney, when Edma was removed from his vehicle, a beer can fell from between his legs. Tests on his blood revealed a .42% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). Edma already possessed a misdemeanor DUI conviction from 2017 with a high blood content and was on probation for that DUI at the time of the incident.
At trial, the DA says that Edma was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder with the special allegations that he caused great bodily injury, used a deadly weapon (the vehicle), that he was on probation when the crime was committed, and that Edma engaged in violent conduct indicating he is a danger to society.
The DA says he was also convicted of felony DUI with great bodily injury for the male driver and the three children in the car, misdemeanor driving while suspended, and unlawful vehicle operation.
Officials say as part of his sentence for the 2017 DUI, Edma enrolled in drunk driving classes and signed a Watson Admonishment dictating the future possible consequences of DUI that would include murder charges if the defendant drove drunk and killed someone.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 31, in the Superior Court where the DA says Edma faces life in prison.
