Judge Kaleb Cockrum sentenced Marci Kitchen this afternoon to eight years in state prison for fatally hitting two teenage girls, including her daughter, while driving drunk on July 12, 2016, ending an emotionally charged case that has spanned more than two years.
Cockrum handed down the sentence at the conclusion an emotional hearing that spanned most of the day, with people on both sides of the case addressing the court with prepared statements.
Kiya Kitchen and her friend Faith Tsarnas — best friends born just 25 days apart — were both 14 when they were struck from behind while skateboarding at dusk on Eel River Drive. Tsarnas died at the Fortuna crash site and Kiya Kitchen’s death followed a day later at a Bay Area hospital.
After numerous delays in the case, Kitchen suddenly pleaded guilty as charged Aug. 20, admitting to two charges of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, one count of driving under the influence causing injury and one count of fleeing the scene of an injury crash, as well as seven special allegations just before she was set to stand trial.
Two weeks later, Kitchen voluntarily surrendered the $750,000 bail bond that had kept her out of custody. She has been in jail since Sept. 3, held in isolation for her protection, according to officials.
The defense had urged probation for Kitchen, who has no previous criminal record, while the prosecution asked Cockrum to sentence her to 11 years and four months in prison, what the district attorney’s office considered the maximum term in the case. A matter of contention between the two sides, her defense had placed Kitchen’s maximum exposure at seven years and eight months.
Check back for more from today’s sentencing hearing.
This article appears in Burger Week 2018.
Cockran doesn’t have enough experience (just “appointed”…not even elected) to understand the full ramifications of this minimalist sentence….if it was his daughter that Kitchen had killed I bet he would have found a way to impose a much stricter sentence….I hope Kitchen is scared to death when she walks through the doors of what will be her home for the next 8 years….
The district attorney apparently believed that the maximum punishment for Ms. Kitchen was 11 and 1/3 years in prison with a denial of probation. The defense apparently believed that the maximum sentence was 7 and 2/3 years in prison with a prison sentence suspended and Ms. Kitchen placed on felony probation. I don’t understand the comments attacking Judge Cockrum. He agreed with the prosecution and denied probation. He disagreed with the defense on the maximum sentence and gave her an extended time in state prison. What were you thinking he should do, ignore the law that was established by the legislature as to the punishment set in the penal code? If you believe that the crime was inadequately addressed, confront the prosecution who chose the crimes to charge. You can always run for district attorney you know. Kevin Robinson, former Public Defender