Crime & Safety

Guilty Verdict Against Driver Who Killed NASA Ames Employee

A jury found a 24-year-old serial reckless driver guilty last week of second-degree murder for running over his neighbor.

Richard Delgado III has been found guilty for smashing a car and killing Donna Fife in 2009 and could face up to 15 years in prison, the District Attorney's Office announced on Monday, Mar. 18.

A San Jose-resident, 24-year-old Delgado drove his grandfather's Honda into 46-year-old Fife at 11:23 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2009 because she planned on calling the police on Delgado, who earlier that evening had also already crashed his Lincoln Mark VIII into a neighbor’s fence was also doing donuts, leaving tread marks on the asphalt and smoke hanging in the air.

According to the collision reconstruction expert Delgado accelerated rapidly, never made any attempt to stop and ran Fife over with both the front and rear driver side wheels. Though Delgado fled the scene but was apprehended two hours later when he attempted to return to his home.

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Fife had been a longtime NASA Ames Aviation System and Reporting System employee and a master gardener whose apricot preserves won a blue ribbon at the Santa Clara County Fair.

According to the District Attorney, Delgado had been in at least five other incidents of reckless driving, including 100 mph police chases and collisions.

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"For years Richard Delgado has been living his life like a game of Grand Theft Auto. It’s not surprising that he killed someone," James Leonard, who prosecuted the case, said. "It’s surprising that it took so long for him to do it."

During Delgado first trial last year ended with a hung jury voting 10-2 for guilt. Hon. Michelle McKay-McCoy will sentence Delgado on April 19.

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