Local News in Brief : Student Sentenced in Cheerleader’s Death

A 19-year-old Encino college student has been sentenced to 28 months in a youth detention facility for a drunk-driving accident that took the life of a 15-year-old Birmingham High School cheerleader.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber sentenced Dennis William Blumenthal on Friday to serve the time with the California Youth Authority beginning Dec. 18, after his college classes adjourn.

Blumenthal pleaded guilty Sept. 18 to vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with the fatal 1986 accident. He also pleaded guilty to a second count of causing a death while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Sharon Elizabeth Barnett of Tarzana was killed in a fiery crash about 2 a.m. Dec. 28 at the intersection of Valley Vista Boulevard and Zelzah Avenue. Blumenthal was driving a pickup truck that went through a stop sign and hit the side of the car in which Barnett was a passenger, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond.

Blumenthal, a student at California State University, Northridge, had been drinking beer at a Sherman Oaks billiard parlor for more than five hours before the crash, according to Diamond. He said Blumenthal’s blood-alcohol level was 0.10, the point at which the law presumes a person is intoxicated.

However, a second blood-alcohol test performed from the same blood sample at the request of Blumenthal’s attorney produced a level of 0.09, just below the limit, according to previous court testimony.