VENTURA : Driver, 16, Admits Killing Jogger Last Year

A 16-year-old Ventura youth admitted Monday to killing a jogger late last year while driving under the influence of a drug, a prosecutor said.

The teen-ager, whose name is being withheld because of his age, pleaded guilty to charges of vehicular manslaughter in Ventura County Juvenile Court. The youth admitted to sniffing a paint product, then getting behind the wheel of a car that struck a jogger along Via Arroyo and Longridge Court in Ventura, said Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison.

“That’s what he did and that’s what he’s admitted doing,” Ellison said of the boy’s plea. “No situation in this kind of case is ever fair to victims.”

Linda Gabrielson, 52, was killed Dec. 16 as she jogged along the street in her Ventura neighborhood. Gabrielson suffered multiple injuries in the afternoon crash and was pronounced dead at Ventura County Medical Center. The youth was arrested by Ventura police minutes after the accident.

The teen-ager originally was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of a drug, but prosecutors dismissed the DUI charge because a similar allegation is contained in the vehicular manslaughter violation, Ellison said.

The youth’s parents were at the closed-door hearing, but Gabrielson’s relatives declined to attend, Ellison said. The admission Monday vacated a trial date scheduled for Aug. 30.

Ellison said the teen-ager could face four years in prison or the California Youth Authority when he is sentenced on Aug. 30 by Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr.