LONG BEACH – An asserted drunken driver whose vehicle crashed into a wagon containing two toddlers was convicted of murder and other felony charges today in connection with the little girl’s death and injury to her brother.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Cops of the Long Beach Office said a Superior Court jury deliberated 2-1/2 days before convicting 35-year-old Neely Lejon Dinkins of one count each of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence with injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of more than .08 with injury, and leaving the scene of an accident. The jury also found true allegations of great bodily injury to a child under the age of 5 and causing injury to more than one victim.
Sentencing by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Tomson T. Ong, who presented over the trial, was scheduled for March 8. Cops said the defendant faces a minimum sentence of 30 years to life since he had a prior “strike.”
Kaylee Alvarez, who was a year old, and her 2-year-old brother, Oscar, were in a child’s red wagon being pulled by their parents across Redondo Avenue at Tenth Street in Long Beach the evening of Sept. 11, 2009.
An SUV hit the wagon and dragged it – the children inside -- about a block before stopping, then taking off again. The little boy rolled out from under the SUV at the first stop and was rescued by a Good Samaritan. The vehicle took off again, still dragging the wagon with the little girl inside. He stopped at a home in Long Beach about a mile away.
The defendant has remained in custody on $1.49 million bail since his arrest shortly after the crimes occurred.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Cops of the Long Beach Office said a Superior Court jury deliberated 2-1/2 days before convicting 35-year-old Neely Lejon Dinkins of one count each of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence with injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of more than .08 with injury, and leaving the scene of an accident. The jury also found true allegations of great bodily injury to a child under the age of 5 and causing injury to more than one victim.
Sentencing by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Tomson T. Ong, who presented over the trial, was scheduled for March 8. Cops said the defendant faces a minimum sentence of 30 years to life since he had a prior “strike.”Kaylee Alvarez, who was a year old, and her 2-year-old brother, Oscar, were in a child’s red wagon being pulled by their parents across Redondo Avenue at Tenth Street in Long Beach the evening of Sept. 11, 2009.
An SUV hit the wagon and dragged it – the children inside -- about a block before stopping, then taking off again. The little boy rolled out from under the SUV at the first stop and was rescued by a Good Samaritan. The vehicle took off again, still dragging the wagon with the little girl inside. He stopped at a home in Long Beach about a mile away.
The defendant has remained in custody on $1.49 million bail since his arrest shortly after the crimes occurred.
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