John Chiv: Several eye witnesses saw pedestrian struck at 9th & I and "fly through the air" before landing on the street, second collision on 7th and I resulted in major injuries to Humboldt Bar Association president and former deputy public defender Jennifer Dixon, Maria Cuevas held to answer on all charges, people may file additional charges and will ask for increase in bail

Dec 6, 2024

Several eye witnesses saw pedestrian struck at 9th & I and "fly through the air" before landing on the street, second collision on 7th and I resulted in major injuries to Humboldt Bar Association president and former deputy public defender Jennifer Dixon, Maria Cuevas held to answer on all charges, people may file additional charges and will ask for increase in bail

I just did a detailed post on the continuance of 7th and I collision suspect Maria Cuevas' preliminary hearing being continued on Monday. It has a list of some of the People's witnesses but a fourth officer has been added today. Three of the People witnesses are from EPD and one CHP officer. Cuevas is charged with 4 felonies and special allegations for Counts 1, 2 and 3 and one misdemeanor in the 2024 case which includes gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI and hit and run charges.

As of today, Cuevas has been in custody for 157 days.

I took live observations, detailed notes of the preliminary hearing and I will not rush to type three hours of notes. I have done a separate post with detailed testimony. For those who just want a summary, court minutes from today are included.

The video footage did not capture the collisions, just identified Cuevas' vehicle and speed she was travelling which in different places helps either the People and defense. Cuevas was involved in another collision near the Airport Road exit and CHP responded to the scene. This was 5 days before the Eureka collision. The only injuries in the 5/17/24 collision were to Cuevas. There was no other vehicle involved. The only connection to both incidents is nitrous oxide and when you will read the detailed testimony, it is not airtight and at least at the preliminary hearing, it cannot be definitively connected to Cuevas or her using the nitrous oxide.

The hearing today had information more crucial to evidence and law enforcement response but if you want to read more raw, live details including EPD press release and photos I took when the incident occurred, read prior coverage.

EPD obtained Ring camera footage and video surveillance from Kaber Law Firm and Premier Financial Services which was pertinent to the 7th and I collision. Several witnesses including eye witnesses saw pedestrian David Sprague struck by Cuevas' Mercury Marquis and "fly through the air" before landing on the street. This was at 9th and I. Others heard and saw the second collision at 7th and I. The second collision injured Ms. Jennifer Dixon. This was very close to the Kaber Law office.

Ms. Andrea Sullivan had some wins during cross examination when the officer's responses worked in favor of the defense. Two of the officers testimony was very similar and I would have rather heard briefly from Ms. Dixon about that day and what it took for her to recover and be back at work.

If you have not read the last post or followed my regular, exclusive coverage, there are links to previous posts. Charges are in prior coverage and I have included them again in this post.

Deputy District Attorneys Roger Rees and Ian Harris are both prosecutors on the case. Mr. Rees handled the preliminary hearing today. Ms. Andrea Sullivan is Cuevas' attorney. One of the defense investigators is Mr. Joe Thompson.

One of the alleged victims, Ms. Dixon, is the Humboldt Bar Association President and a former deputy public defender. In previous court minutes, it said Ms. Heidi Holmquist Wells represents one of the alleged victims. She was not in court for the preliminary hearing but based on my observations, she maybe representing Ms. Dixon in a future civil matter. They are also former colleagues. Ms. Wells is now in private practice.

Mr. William Stein from the Jannsen Malloy law firm represents the family of the other alleged victim, David Sprague, in a civil case filed 9/23/24. I saw that filing today and will do a separate post this weekend or by early next week. I looked up to see if a civil lawsuit had been filed on a hunch.

Mr. Stein was in court with 3 family members and one person was present via Zoom. Mr. Stein has hired investigator Adam Laird who was formerly employed by EPD. Mr. Laird was not in court today because this is the criminal case; not civil case.

Retired Judge Ksenia Tsenin was assigned to tis case. Judge Tsenin held Cuevas to answer to all charges. People will evaluate whether to file additional charges. People are definitely planning on asking for increase in bail at arraignment.

Ms. Sullivan asked Judge Tsenin not to hold Cuevas to the gross vehicular manslaughter charge because there was no evidence of negligence. "Mr. Sprague entered the roadway; not the crosswalk and was obstructing traffic. That was a contributing factor," said Ms. Sullivan.

This is a preliminary hearing and the ruling by Judge Tsenin is not a surprise. The jury trial is different. There is information defense may chose to go into more detail at trial that was hinted at and briefly covered during cross examination. I recognized several names mentioned who are associated with Cuevas and could be witnesses at trial. Credibility and character of witnesses matters. The preliminary hearing may have been a slam dunk. At trial, you just need one juror for reasonable doubt.

If the Quincy McBride involved in the Cuevas case is this guy, his credibility, motive and character can and will be in question during a trial.

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2022/02/i-remembered-his-name-from-2016-arrest.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2016/04/one-suspect-in-hawthorne-incident.html?m=1

Arraignment on information in CR2401803 scheduled for 12/20. Cuevas 2023 VOP cases are trailing. In CR2300773 Setting of VOP hearing and CR2302409 VOP arraignment scheduled for 12/20.

Charges for 2023 and 2024 cases: