What Happened

It all started when…

On Feb. 10, 2017, Jazz Hayhurst-Loric took methamphetamine and set out to drive from Healdsburg to Santa Cruz. Shortly after 9 p.m., on Highway 1 just south of Año Nuevo, he crossed the center divide and drove south in the northbound lane for some distance, passing cars but then failing to move back into his own lane. He crashed head-on into Kevin Archibald, who was driving home from work. Both men were taken to Stanford Hospital, where Kevin died from his injuries.

Jazz was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter, along with misdemeanor charges for being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and driving without a valid driver’s license. He pled not guilty to all charges.

At the preliminary hearing on Feb. 27, 2018, witnesses who were at the scene testified that Jazz had been driving recklessly and that he appeared to be under the influence of some kind of controlled substance. CHP officers who responded to the scene testified that drugs and drug paraphernalia that showed signs of recent use were present in Jazz’s car. They also testified that Jazz told the investigating officer and hospital staff he had taken “two bumps of speed.” Additionally, he displayed several physical responses that confirmed he was under the influence. At this hearing, the defense attorney said he was not disputing that Jazz was responsible for Kevin’s death. He asked only for the court to consider downgrading that responsibility from “gross negligence” (a felony) to “ordinary negligence” (a misdemeanor). But the judge said that Jazz’s conduct in taking drugs and driving so dangerously did amount to gross negligence and declared the felony charge would stand. He also pointed out that Jazz was very fortunate the charges against him did not include a DUI charge. (This is only because California doesn’t have a legally recognized measurement for what level of methamphetamine in the blood constitutes impairment, as it does for alcohol.) Jazz was ordered to return for a jury trial.

Trial began

Jazz continued to maintain his plea of not guilty, and on Jan. 14, 2019, the jury trial began. In his opening statement, the defense attorney presented a similar argument as at the preliminary hearing. He told the jury that he was not disputing Jazz’s responsibility for Kevin’s death, but he asked them to find that Jazz acted with ordinary negligence rather than gross negligence and thereby should not be found guilty of the felony charge.

Witnesses from the scene gave their testimonies, as did several CHP officers and experts in the fields of collision analysis, vehicle damage, drugs and drug paraphernalia, blood-draw methodology, and blood testing. The toxicologist was scheduled to give his expert testimony on Jan. 18, but he realized the day before that he had not reviewed all of the relevant evidence. He said he had previously seen only the blood test results and, based on that information on its own, he had been prepared to testify that although methamphetamine was present in Jazz’s system, he couldn’t say for sure that he was impaired based on that data alone. However, now that he had read the police report and the additional information about Jazz’s condition and physical responses at the crash scene and the hospital, he would now testify that he is certain Jazz was impaired by the methamphetamine in his system.

The judge, the defense attorney, and the deputy district attorney conferred about how to proceed with the change. The judge then called a mistrial, dismissed the jury, and set a new date for the trial to begin again in April.

Judge’s error led to dismissal

A few weeks later, the defense attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case based on the principle of “double jeopardy.” He claimed that he did not give explicit consent to the mistrial and that the introduction of new evidence doesn’t meet the “legal necessity” criteria needed for a judge to declare a mistrial without that consent. The deputy district attorney verified that was indeed the case and had to concede to the dismissal. At the motion hearing on March 22, the judge went on the record to state her disappointment and anger at this turn of events, which she called a “grave miscarriage of justice.” However, she had to dismiss the case.

How could this have happened? Click to read more about the legal rationale >

Throughout the entire criminal process, Jazz Hayhurst-Loric showed no remorse for killing Kevin Archibald. Although he maintained a plea of not guilty to all charges, he did not dispute his responsibility for Kevin’s death; he asked only that the degree of his responsibility be adjusted from the level of a felony to that of a misdemeanor. And now, merely because of a procedural error by the court, he will face no consequences for taking a life through his reckless behavior.