Driver Gets 14 Years in Fatal 1996 Crash
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A Hermosa Beach man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison in connection with a fatal 1996 car crash after admitting that he drank alcohol and used the potent depressant GHB before getting behind the wheel, a prosecutor said Friday.
Scott Allen Brockman, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday in Torrance Superior Court to manslaughter, drunk driving, reckless driving and other charges stemming from the Aug. 27, 1996, crash, Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd D. Rubenstein said.
Jeffrey Lamont Dodley, 27, of Lawndale was killed in the crash. The Sheriff’s Department said Brockman’s car, speeding north up Hawthorne Boulevard, rear-ended Dodley’s car near the intersection of Manhattan Beach Boulevard.
The case is believed to among the first in California in which prosecutors have been able to point to GHB as a cause for a vehicular homicide, Rubenstein said.
GHB, generally described as odorless and tasteless, is a powerful, easy to manufacture depressant that has been linked to sex-related crimes such as date rape as well as seizures and comas.
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