A 56-year-old Anaheim man was convicted of second-degree murder Wednesday, June 22, in an alcohol-fueled collision that killed a 6-year-old girl in Fullerton.
Maximino Delgado Lagunas was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9.
Prosecutors typically file voluntary manslaughter charges against a defendant in a fatal drunk-driving collision, but when the suspect has been previously convicted of a DUI they can have charges upgraded to second-degree murder. Lagunas was convicted of drunk driving on Dec. 11, 2015, in Buena Park.
The Feb. 17, 2018, collision that killed Grace Aguilar was in the 1400 block of Lombard Street. She was playing on the sidewalk when Lagunas struck her with his 1990 Toyota 4Runner at about 2:15 p.m.
A test five hours later showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .158 to .16, twice the legal limit. An expert at trial testified that it was about .22 to .23, or nearly three times the legal limit, at the time of the collision.
Lagunas told police that he had just left a work site four houses down and that his brakes were not working, police said at his preliminary hearing.
Lagunas was driving east on Gage Avenue when he attempted to turn south onto Lombard but lost control and went onto the sidewalk. He kept going until the SUV slammed into a parked car on Lombard and came to a stop, police said.
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