A criminal case has collapsed against a teenager accused of driving drunk and causing a crash in Nevada that killed five Southern California family members.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said Wednesday that DNA evidence proves 18-year-old Jean Ervin Soriano wasn’t driving the SUV that rear-ended a van carrying seven people to the Los Angeles area after an Easter weekend visit to a sick relative in Denver.
A justice of the peace dismissed charges.
Prosecutors say Soriano had a blood-alcohol percentage of 0.12, but the investigation later determined that he wasn’t behind the wheel. Twenty-three-year-old Alfred Gomez – originally thought to be a passenger – was the driver. Nevada Highway Patrol investigators never drew blood from him because they thought he was a passenger.