Karim Reyad ordered to trial on murder, other charges
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The one-armed motorist accused of driving more than 100 mph in a Dodge Challenger before colliding head-on with another vehicle, killing its driver, has been ordered to stand trial on charges including second-degree murder.
Judge Charles R. Brehmer found there was enough evidence presented over a two-day preliminary hearing to support most charges against 19-year-old Karim Reyad. He dismissed a count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury.
The judge found there was not sufficient evidence of marijuana impairment to hold Reyad on that count, noting his driving behavior — speeding, peeling out, illegal turns — was similar on other days.
The murder charge, however, didn’t require a finding of impairment, Brehmer said, “because there’s plenty of evidence of implied malice.”
Defense attorney H.A. Sala, representing Reyad along with attorney Forrest Miller, told the court this was a case of a then-18-year-old who, proud of his powerful new car, was showing it off to friends.
“His behavior was inappropriate, it was wrong, but there was not implied malice,” Sala said before Brehmer ruled.
The next hearing is scheduled April 23.
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Reyad is being held without bail in the April 18, 2023, crash on Campus Park Drive that killed Gayla Sue Price, the driver and sole occupant of a Honda Civic, and injured Reyad and his two passengers. The crash occurred near the intersection of Evening Star Way in southwest Bakersfield when Reyad swerved into her path, according to reports.
Much of Thursday’s testimony focused on how to determine when someone is impaired by marijuana. Unlike alcohol, there is no standard legal measurement for impairment.
Nevertheless, Matthew Iturriria, an investigator with the Kern County District Attorney’s Office and former California Highway Patrol officer who has conducted more than 2,600 driving under the influence investigations, several hundred involving marijuana alone, testified a person can be impaired with as little as 2 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.
Reyad’s blood, taken in the hours after the crash, measured 6 nanograms of THC per milliliter, according to testimony.
That, along with Reyad’s erratic driving and apparent lack of judgment, led him to conclude Reyad was impaired, Iturriria said. There was no evidence presented of common symptoms such as bloodshot eyes or the odor of marijuana.
Over the course of the hearing, Reyad’s attorneys questioned the reliability of statements witnesses gave to police, and investigative findings. That included whether readings obtained from the Dodge’s event data recorder were valid given the massive damage — including fire damage — the vehicle received.
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The data recorder showed the vehicle was traveling 120 mph five seconds before impact.
Reyad bought the car on April 12, and replaced the tires twice before the crash because he performed frequent burnouts at his home and other locations, according to his statement to Bakersfield police investigators.
A week before the collision, he was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired by marijuana.
Prosecutor Kacie Barrier said Reyad was aware of how dangerous his driving was. While hospitalized, he told police about prior cases he knew of in which people had been killed by reckless drivers.
Reyad’s driving behavior on the day of the crash, Barrier said, as well as the days leading up to it, rose to the level of implied malice required for the second-degree murder count.
She said Reyad didn’t care about any other motorists on the road, perhaps not even himself.
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