Samrao also argued that social media played a role in the accident, noting the "pressure kids face to act and do things a certain way." "No one knows how you would react when your sibling dies in your arms." "It's upsetting that so many people are judging her based on a few minutes of a video and they don't know anything about the person behind that and what she's been through," he said. Samrao also condemned social media attacks against his client, and revealed that the 18-year-old had been in foster care and was a victim of human sex trafficking. "They were close and she's still in shock, but that doesn't mean a crime was committed." "She feels completely responsible and she said that over and over in the video," he said. Samrao said after the hearing that the teen "feels absolutely terrible" and is grieving for her sister. I know I'm going to prison, but I don't care. This is the last thing I wanted to happen. This is the last thing I wanted to happen to us but it just did," she said into the camera before turning it back to her sister's body. Sanchez recorded the entire thing, filming herself over her sister's bloodied body, apologizing, and begging her to wake up. The old white Buick she was driving swerved and crashed through a barbed wire fence before overturning in a field, ejecting her sister, Jacqueline Sanchez, and her sister's girlfriend, 14-year-old Manuela Seja, who sustained "major injuries" to her leg. "To expect a foster child, a person who has been in foster care for a few years now, to be able to post $560,000 to bail out is unreasonable and violates the Eighth Amendment proscription against excessive bail," he said.Īccording to the California Highway Patrol, Sanchez was driving drunk and livestreaming on Instagram when she veered off the road at 6:40 p.m. Ramnik Samrao, a public defender representing Sanchez, told BuzzFeed News that despite pleas from his client's family and support from social workers, the judge refused to lower the "outrageous" bail amount. On Friday, Merced County Superior Court Judge David Moranda refused to lower the teen's bail of $560,000, citing probation officers' recommendations and Sanchez's previous conviction for reckless driving when she was 14 years old and found driving without a license. If convicted, Sanchez faces up to 13 years and eight months in prison. "The behavior demonstrated both prior to and after the incident, as documented by the defendant’s own recording, is disturbing and shocking," Merced County Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt said in a statement, adding that his office "will do everything in its power to see that justice is done in this matter."
Sanchez's alleged blood-alcohol level was. It was Obdulia Sanchez's first court appearance since the graphic Instagram video footage showing her hovering over her sister's bloodied body last Friday in a field near Los Banos, California, went viral.ĭressed in a yellow prison uniform and appearing via video in Merced County Superior Court, Sanchez pleaded not guilty to a host of charges, including felony manslaughter while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, two counts of driving under the influence resulting in injury, and driving with a 0.08% blood-alcohol level causing injury. The 18-year-old accused of driving drunk and livestreaming the ensuing crash that killed her younger sister pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to gross vehicular manslaughter and other felony criminal charges.
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