MARTINEZ — A Contra Costa County jury will soon deliberate on a rare murder charge filed against an alleged drunken driver accused of swerving out of his lane in 2017 and front-ending an oncoming car, killing a woman and maiming her boyfriend.
Bo Robledo, 34, had two prior drunken driving convictions — one from a 2006 crash that almost killed him — in November 2017, when he allegedly swerved into oncoming traffic on Kinne Bridge, a section of Willow Pass Road north of Concord. The crash killed 21-year-old Natalie Davies and badly injured her boyfriend, 26-year-old Zachary Punty, who barely survived.
Speaking to jurors Monday morning, Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Derek Butts said Robledo had a recorded 0.22 blood alcohol level that night, nearly three times the legal limit, and that he was driving 76 miles per hour in a 45 mile-an-hour zone. Robledo had two DUI convictions and had been warned multiple times that if he continued to drive drunk he could kill someone and be charged with murder, Butts said.
“He can’t maintain his lane. … He’s going way too fast and he’s way too drunk,” Butts told the jury in front of a packed courtroom. He later added it all happened because “Mr. Robledo wanted another beer.”
During his very brief argument before the jury, Robledo’s attorney took issue with an investigator’s accident report, calling it “more art than science” and adding the officer had received poor training. He said Robledo was innocent of murder or manslaughter with gross negligence, the two most serious charges, but jurors could consider whether to convict him of a lesser manslaughter offense.
“Mr. Robledo simply did not have the state of mind necessary to turn a car accident into a murder,” Billings said, adding that his client had slammed on the brakes and tried to avoid the collision. He later added, “Failure to maintain your lane for a brief period, especially on a curve in the road on an unlit roadway, is not showing a reckless disregard for human life.”
In his rebuttal, Butts showed jurors a log from the car’s computer, showing Robledo braked for a half-second before the crash.
The crash happened near midnight on Nov. 5, 2017, on a section of road known for fatal wrecks. Davies and Punty, Butts said, were headed south on Willow Pass Road and could not escape Robledo’s car when it swerved into their lane, traveling north.
Butts displayed a picture of Davies’ driver’s license photo next to a barely recognizable silver sedan that had been smashed in the crash. He said Punty suffered collapsed lungs, respiratory failure and failure of other organs, multiple fractures and a traumatic brain injury so bad he was nonverbal at the beginning of his hospital stay.
“I kind of sarcastically called him the lucky one, because he is alive, but look at what he has to face,” Butts said.
Butts also showed the jury of a similarly mangled car Robledo was driving in 2006 when he crashed while driving drunk. He was convicted of a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge and sentenced to a short term in jail. It should have been a wakeup call, Butts said, but in 2013 Robledo was convicted of drunken driving again, in Fresno.
In the Fresno case, Robledo was found passed out behind the wheel of his car. In both instances, he was found to have a blood alcohol level of at least 0.20, Butts said. The legal blood alcohol level in California is 0.08.
A murder charge in a DUI case has a different standard than most involving a fatality; prosecutors must prove not only that the defendant drove drunk but also that he had specific knowledge doing so could kill someone. To address that, Butts played jurors a tape of Robledo’s 2013 plea deal hearing, where he was sentenced to 180 days in jail but allowed to convert most of his sentence into a work program.
In the tape, a judge can be heard telling Robledo that he could be charged with murder if he drives drunk and kills someone and asks if Robledo understands. Robledo replies, “Yes.”
“It’s murder for Bo Robledo, but it might not be for someone who hasn’t had that experience, those actual DUIs,” Butts told the jury.
Deliberations began Monday afternoon. Robledo faces charges of murder, manslaughter and drunken driving causing injury or death.