Deliberations start in trial of Palm Desert teacher/coach accused of killing pedestrian
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - Jury deliberations got underway today in the trial of a former Palm Desert High School football coach accused of running over and killing a 64-year-old caregiver while driving under the influence.
Cameron Francis Curtis, 33, of Palm Desert allegedly fatally struck Nancy Valdes, also of Palm Desert, in 2023. Curtis is charged with second-degree murder.
After three days of testimony, the prosecution and defense delivered closing statements Thursday morning at the Riverside of Hall of Justice. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz sent jurors behind closed doors early Thursday afternoon to begin weighing evidence.
Curtis is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
Deputy Page Broughton of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department testified in the defendant's October 2023 preliminary hearing that on the evening of March 4, 2023, the department received a call to investigate reports of a pedestrian down, and the deputy found Valdes dead in the intersection of Calliandra Street and Alamo Drive.
Broughton said Curtis was stopped nearby in his Nissan Frontier pickup. He was detained without incident.
Valdes was a caretaker for a local senior and had just left to walk the woman's dog when she was hit while crossing the street, according to Broughton. Detectives later determined that Curtis had been drinking alone that afternoon for almost three hours at Stuft Pizza, two miles from where the victim was hit.
Based on restaurant receipts, the defendant drank 91 ounces of beer and two shots of hard liquor before leaving, according to investigators. A bartender told detectives that Curtis was a regular and routinely sat alone at the bar for hours.
Deputy Joshua Kemper testified that when he arrived at the fatality, Curtis told him he was aware of what he'd done, displaying ``bloodshot watery eyes, slurred speech, (and) strong odor of alcohol emitting from his breath.''
Though the defendant had no driving under the influence convictions, by way of his then-position as a teacher and athletics coach, he had participated in ``Every 15 Minutes'' programs, which provide beginning-to-end re-enactments of DUI tragedies, complete with emergency medical treatment, an arrest, conviction and burial service -- all for the benefit of high school students learning the rules of the road.
Prosecutors alleged that during his two-mile trip home, Curtis maneuvered around traffic to avoid a stoplight and then blew through a stop sign on eastbound Calliandra before hitting the victim.
The defendant is no longer employed by the Desert Sands Unified School District. He has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
