The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
40°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

People: Prosecutors decline to charge Caitlyn Jenner in fatal crash

Caitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe award for courage July 15 at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater, in Los Angeles. Prosecutors said Wednesday they have declined to charge Caitlyn Jenner in the Feb. 7 collision in California in which authorities said Jenners sport utility vehicle crashed into two cars, pushing one into oncoming traffic. (Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Caitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe award for courage July 15 at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater, in Los Angeles. Prosecutors said Wednesday they have declined to charge Caitlyn Jenner in the Feb. 7 collision in California in which authorities said Jenners sport utility vehicle crashed into two cars, pushing one into oncoming traffic. (Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Prosecutors declined to charge Caitlyn Jenner on Wednesday in a California car crash that killed another driver, citing insufficient evidence to support a case.

Authorities said Jenner was towing an off-road vehicle on a trailer behind a Cadillac Escalade on Feb. 7 when she crashed into two cars, pushing one into oncoming traffic. Driver Kim Howe died when her Lexus was hit by a Hummer in Malibu.

“We believed from the start that a thorough and objective investigation would clear Caitlyn of any criminal wrongdoing,” said Blair Berk, Jenner’s attorney. “We are heartened the district attorney has agreed that even a misdemeanor charge would be inappropriate. A traffic accident, however devastating and heartbreaking when a life is lost, is not necessarily a criminal matter.”

Sheriff’s investigators previously determined that Jenner, 65, was traveling at an unsafe speed for the road conditions at the time and there was enough evidence to support a vehicular manslaughter charge.

A prosecutor wrote in a one-page sheet declining to file charges that Jenner was traveling slightly below the posted speed limit and began braking less than two seconds before the crash. To prove misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, prosecutors would have had to show Jenner was negligent and had violated a basic speed law.

A Los Angeles judge approved Jenner’s petition to formally change her name and gender on Sept. 25. Jenner was born Bruce Jenner and won an Olympic gold medal for the decathlon in 1976.

Court upholds California law to control paparazzi’s driving

A California appellate court has upheld the constitutionality of a law enacted to curtail reckless driving by paparazzi.

The law was used for the first time to prosecute a paparazzo accused of engaging in a high-speed chase of Justin Bieber on a Los Angeles highway in 2012. But a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled it was unconstitutional.

Wednesday’s ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles states the law is not overbroad and does not violate the First Amendment as the lower court judge had ruled.

Unless the ruling is overturned, it will reinstate the case against Paul Raef, who was charged with reckless driving for the Bieber pursuit.

The 2010 law raises the penalty for those who drive dangerously in pursuit of photos for commercial gain, making it punishable by six months in jail.

The birthday bunch

Actress-singer Julie Andrews is 80. Actor Stephen Collins (“Seventh Heaven”) is 68. Actor Randy Quaid is 65. Actor Zach Galifianakis (”The Hangover”) is 46. Actress Sarah Drew (“Grey’s Anatomy” “Everwood”) is 35.