Jurors convict driver in scooter crash that killed grandmother, granddaughter

Jurors on Tuesday convicted a man of two counts of second-degree murder for a head-on crash in 2020 that killed a girl, 7, and her grandmother.

The jury returned the verdict for Jacob Anthony Caliboso, 25, Tuesday afternoon after starting deliberations late Friday afternoon in Ventura County Superior Court.

Caliboso showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

After the verdict, deputies escorted him from the small, packed courtroom. He was taken into custody and housed at the Todd Road Jail facility outside Santa Paula.

Caliboso's attorney, Ron Bamieh, said an appeal would be filed, but added another lawyer would represent Caliboso during that stage of the case.

Caliboso had been driving under the influence of Xanax, a sedative, and marijuana around 9:15 p.m. on June 20, 2020, prosecutors said, when he crossed the center line of Pleasant Valley Road near Laguna Road outside Oxnard. His Acura sedan hit an oncoming scooter head-on.

Camarillo resident Elva Andrade, 55, had been riding the Yamaha scooter with her granddaughter, 7-year-old Nevaeh Gomez of Oxnard, on back. Both wore helmets. Andrade died at the scene and Nevaeh died the following day at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Family and friends of the victims reacted with tears of relief and hugs in the courtroom after the verdict was read.

"I felt relieved for the family," said Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Leija, who prosecuted the case. "If you were in the courtroom, you could hear an audible sense of relief from the family that they're finally getting a sense of the justice they deserved."

Leija said she will seek the maximum sentence of 30 years to life. She added that Andrea Jimenez, who is Andrade's daughter and Nevaeh's mother, and possibly other family members plan to give victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Jimenez sat in the front row of the courtroom as the verdict was read.

"My daughter, Nevaeh, and my mom, Elva, are together in heaven," Jimenez said in an email later. "The moment I heard the verdict of guilty, all I thought about was them at peace."

She expressed her gratitude to Leija, jurors and the judge.

California Highway Patrol investigators determined Caliboso had been driving about 55 mph at the time of the crash and that the brakes of his Acura weren't activated prior to the collision, the DA's office said in a news release. CHP officials obtained more than 1,000 Snapchat videos and photos showing Caliboso using large quantities of drugs and driving in the weeks before the crash.

On the day of the crash, he made nearly a dozen Snapchat posts of his drug use, prosecutors said.

"I think there was overwhelming evidence that Mr. Caliboso knew driving under the influence was dangerous," Leija said about Tuesday's verdict.

Bamieh said there's a basis for appeal because the jury wasn't allowed to understand Caliboso's psychological condition.

The judge limited the testimony of a psychologist called by the defense, Bamieh said.

But getting a verdict overturned on appeal "is never a great shot," Bamieh added.

Judge Paul Feldman set sentencing for the morning of June 11 in courtroom 24.

Dave Mason covers the East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Driver convicted in scooter crash that killed girl, 7, and grandmother