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Driver rescinds guilty plea in wrong-way crash into LA sheriff’s recruits
The judge rejected a deal that would have spared Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez prison time, and the case is now headed to trial.
On Friday, Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez withdrew his guilty plea after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Laura Walton indicated she would impose a 365-day jail term, collapsing the plea deal and sending the case to trial.
The charges stem from a November 16, 2022, crash in Whittier where Gutierrez struck 76 members of LASD Academy Class 464 during a training run, killing Recruit Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza.
Defense attorney Alexandra Kazarian said Gutierrez, 25, is "suffering from a previously undiagnosed neurological disorder at the time of the incident," citing why his team rejected the judge's added jail condition from the original five-year probation deal.
Judge Walton imposed the jail term following emotional statements from more than a dozen crash victims on Friday, while former Sheriff Alex Villanueva previously called the original plea bargain "an insult to the families."
With the plea deal voided, the case will now proceed to trial, and Gutierrez is scheduled to appear in court on August 26 for a pretrial hearing on the felony charges.