Judge: Driver’s behavior ‘outrageously reckless’ in road-rage crash that killed Navy man

Chula Vista — Calling her behavior “outrageously reckless,” a judge on Friday sentenced a young woman to six years in prison for chasing a motorcyclist on two South County freeways and causing the crash that killed him.

Darla Renee Jackson, 27, of Imperial Beach sobbed in the courtroom as she heard her punishment, stemming from the 2015 death of Zacharias Buob, a 39-year-old Navy chief petty officer.

As Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney ordered the sentence, Jackson lowered her head on the table in front of her, repeating the word “No.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God, no!” she said moments before sheriff’s deputies led her out of the courtroom.

Jackson pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the incident, which prosecutors have said was sparked by road rage.

Buob died following a collision that occurred after he and Jackson got into an altercation on May 28, 2015. Both had been driving along northbound Interstate 5 near E Street in South County, and then onto state Route 54.

Jackson, who was driving a Nissan Altima, pursued Buob at speeds reaching up to 90 mph and crashed into his motorcycle when the traffic slowed in front of them. Buob was thrown to the ground.

She ran over him as she swerved her car to avoid the fallen motorcycle. Buob died later at a hospital.

“Whatever the purpose, she chased. She sped. She followed too closely and she hunted him down,” Deputy District Attorney Laura Evans said during the sentencing hearing.

“She is a dangerous person,” the prosecutor said, arguing that the defendant had trouble controlling her anger.

Jackson had initially been charged with murder. When she entered her guilty plea to the manslaughter charge, her lawyer said he didn’t agree with her decision but acknowledged that she wanted to avoid facing a possible life sentence if the case had gone to trial.

Defense attorney Stephen Cline, who disputes the prosecution’s version of events in this case, has argued that the evidence supports a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter instead of murder.

He said Friday that the California Highway Patrol’s report describing the incident is the best evidence as to what happened on the freeway, instead of witnesses who said it looked as though Jackson ran over the motorcyclist on purpose.

“Whether we like it or not, no matter how egregious the chase was, … the collision itself was an accident,” said Cline, who has said his client suffers from severe trauma as a result of childhood abuse and other difficulties in her past.

Jackson apologized in court for what she had done.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t relive and regret what happened,” she said, adding that she is not the person she was made out to be in court.

Based on the facts of the case, Devaney said he did not believe the defendant should be sentenced to the maximum term of 11 years in prison, as the prosecution contended, nor did he believe she should be placed on probation, as argued by the defense.

The judge said he believed Jackson did not intend to run over Buob or to kill him, but that her actions put many lives in danger that day.

“Her conduct was outrageously reckless,” Devaney said. “She had no regard for anyone’s safety on that road.”

The judge also acknowledged he had received many letters from the victim’s family and friends, who spoke of his generous personality and his years of military service, which included multiple deployments.

Many of them, including Buob’s mother, father and sister, attended the sentencing hearing.

“Zach was my brother, my big brother,” Andrea Cisneros said in the courtroom through her tears. “He was my protector. He always kept me safe. He taught me so much. And he’s gone and I miss him.”

Buob’s parents told the judge that the Navy had been important to their only son, and that his passions were “bikes and boats.”

“Zach’s meant so much to us, to the Navy,” Kathy Buob said. “He’s put his life in danger for this country so we can have the right to have hearings like this.”

Outside the courtroom, the family members expressed disappointment in the final ruling. The victim’s father, Gary Buob, said people have gotten more prison time for acts he considered less egregious.

“Justice, to me, was not served to the fullest extent,” he said.

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