Man charged with death of Danny Oates to face trial

About 100 friends and family of Danny Oates were in the courtroom today when Jeffrey Woods, 21, pleaded not guilty for vehicular manslaughter in the Aug. 2007 death of the 14-year-old boy.

The Santa Ana court made a shortened four-year sentencing offer, Deputy District Attorney Susan Price said, that will be sent to the trial judge.

Woods’ attorney, Scott Well, has spent months “shopping” different judges for a shortened sentence, Price said. Price finally sought a grand jury indictment, issued Nov. 10, to bring the case forward after being dismayed by the toll the delays have taken on Oates’ family, she said.

“It’s very frustrating,” Danny’s father, Paul Oates, said. “It’s been 15 months and nine days now since Danny was killed. He was just a good kid. Danny was a leader for all those kids who showed up in the courtroom today. He was a good dude.”

The group of mourners has been present at every public hearing to date; some of the youngest attendees went to elementary school after they left the standing-room-only courtroom.

Now that the private grand jury hearing is finished, taking the place of a preliminary hearing, the case will move forward to trial in February.

At that time, the judge will have the option of approving the settlement offer or going ahead with a trial, Well said.

On Aug. 29, Woods’ pickup truck veered across Indianapolis Avenue at Everglades Lane and instantly killed Oates, who was on his bike, according to authorities.

An affidavit filed by Huntington Beach police said Woods was text messaging with regard to a drug deal about the time of the collision, and was following cars too closely.

“Obviously the district attorney’s opinion and my opinion are very different in this case,” Well said. “There’s a strong difference of opinion, factually, on what happened.”

Woods had Vicodin and Xanax in his system at the time of the crash, the district attorney’s office said.

The defense didn’t deny that pain medications were in Woods’ system at the time of the toxicology report, but contended that Woods was issued many medications by the hospital following the crash, which affected the tests taken afterward.

Well said Woods’ legs were snapped in the crash to the point that the bone punctured the skin; Woods appeared today using crutches.

Well added he will attempt to prove Woods was suffering a seizure at the time of the accident, and has two witnesses who will testify to the claim.

“I believe that’s why [the district attorney] didn’t allow the pretrial to go forward,” Well said.

“My client has absolutely no criminal history whatsoever.”

But Paul Oates questioned Woods’ character, regardless of his criminal record.

“We know people who have known him since high school, and he’s been a partyer ever since then,” he said.

Well also will attempt to prove that Woods’ text messaging was not the cause of the accident.

He compared Woods’ activity to applying makeup or talking to a friend in the car.

“[The prosecutors] will have to prove the texting happened at the exact time of the collision,” he said. “What I can’t understand is, if there were no drugs, and no alcohol, and he wasn’t texting, how did he go across two lanes of traffic at 60 miles per hour and hit my son with no brakes?” Oates said.

“This is a terrible, terrible tragedy for all involved,” Well said. “No one feels worse about it than my client and his family, but we believe it was an accident, and that he shouldn’t be sent to prison for it.”

Woods was charged with felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated and driving under the influence and causing bodily injury.

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted, but if the judge accepts the offer, Woods may go to prison for as little as four.

“I don’t want a settlement,” Oates said. “I want this to go to trial. But it’s not up to me.”

The next hearing will begin at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 13 in courtroom C-41 of the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.