Woman Found Guilty in Crash That Killed Deputy

VENTURA —  A 37-year-old woman was found guilty Wednesday of vehicular manslaughter in the death of a sheriff’s deputy, and prosecutors revealed for the first time that she had a prior conviction for killing a man.

Tanya Pittman stabbed a man to death on a beach in San Diego County 18 years ago. That conviction is significant because it could lead to a much lengthier prison sentence for Pittman, convicted of barreling through a faulty stoplight and broadsiding Ventura County Deputy Lisa Whitney’s car.

It took jurors three hours to convict Pittman, accepting the prosecution’s argument that she was under the influence of methamphetamine and muscle relaxants on Aug. 12, 1998, when she killed the 28-year-old deputy.

Pittman, of Ventura, was taken into custody after the verdict following arguments by Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon that she poses a flight risk.

To back up his contention, Simon introduced evidence of Pittman’s prior run-ins with the law, including a 1989 drug conviction and the 1981 conviction for involuntary manslaughter. Pittman served 180 days in county jail for that offense.

According to court testimony, a transformer explosion had knocked out power to the intersection of Hill and Telephone roads in east Ventura before the crash.

Whitney, of Oxnard, was driving to Camarillo. She was turning left onto Telephone Road when her car was hit by Pittman.