Firefighter pleads not guilty to DUI, vehicular manslaughter charges
| Thursday, Mar 11 2010 05:45 AM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 11 2010 05:44 PM
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Kern County firefighter Mitchell Green sat in a wheelchair with a cast on his right leg as he was arraigned on charges of drunk driving vehicular manslaughter in the death of Michelle Maxwell.
Kern County firefighter Mitchell Green arraigned on charges of drunk driving vehicular manslaughter in the death of Michelle Maxwell.
Kern County firefighter Mitchell Green is taken into custody until bail can be posted. Green was in court for his arraignment on charges of drunk driving vehicular manslaughter in the death of Michelle Maxwell.
Jerry Maxwell leaves court after attending the arraignment of Kern County firefighter Mitchell Green who is charged with drunk driving vehicular manslaughter in the death of Maxwell's wife, Michelle Maxwell.
Kern County Fire Engineer Mitchell Green, making his first public appearance since a Feb. 2 crash in which he is accused of driving drunk, killing a woman and injuring her daughter, came into court in a wheelchair and pleaded not guilty to felony charges that are punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Superior Court Judge Michael Lewis set bail at $100,000 for the 30-year-old Green and ordered him to be taken into custody. Defense attorney Troy Childers said bail would be posted immediately for Green. The defendant, a firefighter with three years experience, was not on duty at the time of the crash. Childers declined further comment.
The arraignment took place the day a newly released police report says Green had a blood-alcohol level of .13 percent, well above the .08 percent legal limit, on Feb. 2 when he drove his Ford F-150 pickup truck through a red light and into the passenger side of a Hyundai.
The impact killed 41-year-old Michelle Maxwell and seriously injured her 15-year-old daughter, Michaela, who had been driving on a learner's permit. Jerry Maxwell, the husband of Michelle and father of Michaela, attended the arraignment but declined to comment.
Green was also critically injured in the crash at Panama Lane and Ashe Road, where he also ran into a power pole that caused his Ford F-150 pickup to catch fire, officials said. He was not burned in the crash, his attorney has said.
A witness said Green was going more than 70 mph at the time of the crash, says the one-page police report released Thursday in the court file. More extensive reports won't be available for several days.
Green, who spent more than two weeks in critical condition at a Fresno hospital, is now on an unpaid medical leave, Kern County personnel officials said.
Private investigator Wayne Wallace pushed Green's wheelchair into the presiding judge's courtroom where no other cases were being conducted at the time. Typically, arraignments are held in a courtroom where 10 to 20 or more defendants are arraigned, but it was moved to Lewis' courtroom because the arraignment judge had an undisclosed conflict of interest.
Green, wearing a dark blue dress shirt and black pants, kept his head down as he came in, and Wallace did his best to shield Green from a half-dozen news cameras. Green had a black brace on his left foot and a black cast on his right foot. The cast bore the words "XOXO, Woof Woof, Lucy."
The charges against Green include felony vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk with multiple victims and causing death or great bodily injury. He also faces four counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher.
The charges are punishable by up to 14 years in prison, but if convicted, he could be released after serving half of whatever term he receives.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael Yraceburn said the facts of the case did not justify filing a second-degree murder charge, which is punishable by 15 years to life. A person so convicted must serve 15 years before he or she is eligible for parole.
Yraceburn said a prosecutor must be able to prove implied malice and that is most often done in traffic death cases when a defendant has a prior conviction for drunken driving and has been formally warned that if he drinks again and kills someone, he could be charged with murder. "We don't have that in this case," Yraceburn said.
Yraceburn declined to talk about the facts of Green's case. Deputy District Attorney Kim Marshall has been assigned to prosecute the case.
