Jury seated for trial of man accused in Tour de Palm Springs death
A jury was seated today in the trial of an unlicensed driver accused of killing a Tour de Palm Springs bicyclist and severely injuring another when he lost control of his car while high on drugs, speeding to get around the competitors in Indio Hills.
Ronnie Ramon Huerta Jr., 26, of Desert Hot Springs, is charged with second-degree murder, driving under the influence of drugs resulting in great bodily injury, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.
Jury selection began at the end of last week, and the process concluded Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Steven Counelis swore in a panel and ordered the jurors to return to the downtown Riverside courthouse Monday morning for opening statements.
Huerta is free on a $250,000 bond.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, the defendant was a repeat traffic offender, racking up seven citations over a two-year span for speeding, failing to obey traffic signals and signs, making unsafe lane changes and driving while distracted due to use of a cellular telephone.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles in 2017 suspended his driving privileges because he had accumulated so many points on his record that he was deemed a "negligent operator" and unsafe to be on the road, the brief said.
Huerta had been suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana during a Desert Hot Springs police investigation in January 2017 stemming from his plowing through a stop sign on Palm Drive. However, no charges were filed due to lack of conclusive results in blood screenings that were done after his arrest, according to court papers.
Shortly after 9 a.m. Feb. 10, 2018, Huerta left his family's residence in his 2006 Ford 500 sedan, allegedly lit up a marijuana bong and headed for his girlfriend's house in Indio.
The annual Tour de Palm Springs was underway at the time, with bicyclists from the U.S. and abroad participating in the 50-mile ride through the Coachella Valley.
According to the brief, multiple law enforcement agencies in the region were staffing roadblocks, and the event was heavily advertised in area media, notifying the public that riders would be traversing a number of corridors, requiring motorists to slow down and move over.
"The defendant traveled between 90 and 100 mph on Dillon Road, passing numerous bicyclists for more than 15 miles,'' the brief stated. "Approximately 9:20 a.m., the defendant approached 30th Avenue and came upon a vehicle traveling at a slow speed, using caution amongst the racers. (Huerta) impatiently attempted to pass the slow-moving truck. As he sped around it, his tires hit the dirt shoulder on the opposite side of the roadway."
Court papers said Huerta lost control, and his car plowed into 54-year-old Mark Kristofferson of Lake Stevens, Washington, as well as then-48-year-old Alyson Lee Akers of Huntington Beach. After striking the victims, the sedan hit a berm and overturned.
Prosecutors said Huerta self-extricated himself and tried to run into the desert in an attempt to hide the marijuana he'd been smoking, but witnesses prevented him from going anywhere and called 911.
Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location a short time later and pronounced Kristofferson dead at the scene. Akers was airlifted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, suffering significant head trauma.
She was left with lasting injuries. It was unclear whether she would be testifying in the defendant's trial.
"Witnesses were contacted at the scene of the collision,'' court papers said. "More than a dozen bicyclists came forward with terrifying accounts of their near-misses with the defendant."
Huerta suffered minor injuries in the rollover crash and was treated and released from the hospital the next day.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
