Street racer gets 6 years in fatality

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - A Spring Valley man, who was street racing when he caused a crash that killed an innocent motorist leaving a karate class near the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, was sentenced today to six years in prison.

Lawton Ferreira Jr., 19, pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the Nov. 26, 2002, death of 20-year-old Feli Dolor.

Ferreira, who had marijuana in his system at the time of the 7:40 p.m. crash, also pleaded guilty to being intoxicated.


In return for the guilty pleas, second-degree murder charges and great bodily injury allegations were dropped, prosecutor Blaine Bowman said.

The defendant sobbed uncontrollably for most of the two-hour hearing.

"Two families have been torn apart because of my decision to drive fast and ignore the law," Ferreira told Judge Bernard Revak.

The victim's mother also addressed the court.

"The pain is unimaginable and uncomparable to any pain that I have ever felt in my life," Mila Dolor said. "It is an awful thing. Life will never be the same for me and my family."

Bowman unsuccessfully argued that Ferreira be sentenced to the maximum term of 10 years in state prison because he had been cited six months before the fatal crash for participating in a speed contest.

Ferreira's father owned a car shop and preached to his son about the dangers of street racing. At the time of the accident, the father headed a group that promoted safe alternatives to racing on the streets.

The judge said the defendant's "pattern of street racing" was "bothersome."

"I'm convinced he got involved in a street race," Revak said of the defendant.

But the defendant's lack of criminal record and showing of remorse worked in favor of a lighter sentence, the judge said.

Dolor, a student at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, was killed when he pulled out onto Camino Santa Fe, near Commerce Avenue. His Pontiac Firebird was struck broadside by the defendant's modified Chevrolet pickup truck, Bowman said.

Ferreira was going 93 mph in a 40 mph zone when he slammed into the victim's car, the prosecutor said.

Ferreira and a driver in a white Honda Acura Integra both revved their vehicles' engines and raced -- changing leads at least twice -- before the defendant slammed into Dolor's Pontiac, Bowman said.

A passenger in Ferreira's truck, who was injured in the crash, testified at an earlier hearing that the defendant had raced five to 10 times before the fatal accident, the prosecutor noted.

"He was acting within his character," Bowman told the judge.

Defense attorney Alex Loebig unsuccessfully urged Revak to give Ferreira the low term of four years behind bars.

The attorney said his client was a "good boy" and "great son" who worked with his father at his car shop and volunteered to help autistic children.

"It is inconceivable that he would ever do anything like this again," Loebig said. "He's just not a threat."

Ferreira's mother, Donna, told the judge that no amount of punishment could compare with the punishment her son has already heaped on himself for taking a life.