San Diego DUI fatality leads to 20 year sentence

After killing a pedestrian in Pacific Beach earlier this year, a San Diego man will face 20 years to life for second-degree murder.

46-year-old ALan Lester Mabrey was convicted of a second-degree murder charge along with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run in a February 7 accident. The accident took the life of 24-year-old Emily Cathleen Dowdy.

Dowdy was attempting to cross the street when she was struck; she died in the hospital the following day from injuries sustained in the accident. While Mabrey admitted fault, he also held firm that he had committed an accident and not a murder. He asked for mercy from the court, but Judge Charles Rogers handed down the maximum sentence.

Mabrey was driving a Dodge Ram that evening and admitted to drinking beer all night with a friend. Mabrey left the site of the collision after he struck Dowdy, but he did return about an hour later. Reports say he went to Burger King to eat in the meantime.

When tested after returning, Mabrey's blood alcohol level was .22%. This was about an hour and a half after the collision, but it is difficult to say if it would have been higher immediately following or had actually gone up in the lapsed time. This depends on when Mabrey had his last drink.

Adding to the sentencing, Mabrey has been convicted of DUI twice in the past, once in Texas and once in Colorado. His most recent arrest was only 1 year before the accident. The Texas arrest was a felony, and Mabrey did serve time in jail. Though murder charges are a relatively new way to prosecute DUIs, they have become increasingly common in extenuating circumstances.


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