(InEDC)

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — “16 measly years in prison for the drunk driver, Anthony Smith, who killed 14-year-old pedestrian, Julianna Abballo. Plea deal rather than trial. She deserved a trial and so did her family.” posted Julie Seth Leconte. “He had been arrested for DUI only 4 days prior to this DUI incident!” she added.

Anthony Smith, 23 at the time, had been charged with Felony Hit-And-Run, Vehicular Manslaughter, and Driving Under the Influence. Smith hit 14-year-old Julianna Abballo as she walked along Carson Road with a friend in Camino. The tragedy rocked the tight-knit community where the eighth-grader lived. The Feb 8th afternoon collision was along Carson Road. A preliminary report issued by the CHP said officers were dispatched at around 4:15 p.m. to Camino Road after receiving information about an accident involving a pedestrian.

Officers determined that Julianna Abballo, a Camino resident, had been walking east on the shoulder of Carson Road, just east of Barkley Road, when she was struck by a westbound Honda CR-V. The driver left the scene after the crash.

Julianna succumbed to injuries. The Pollock Pines resident, 23-year-old Anthony B. Smith, was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, vehicular manslaughter, and driving under the influence.

Smith was arrested a week before the Fatal Hit and Run DUI on suspicion of DUI.

On 5-10-22 Anthony B. Smith pleaded guilty to DUI hit-and-run.

The El Dorado County District Attorney recommended the Court accept this arranged “Plea Bargain” sentence that carries a maximum sentence of 16 1/2 years in state prison.

Smith will be sentenced at 8 a.m. on June 14.

“He killed someone cause he was drunk! He should spend his life in prison. He took her life because he was reckless!! She gets no 2nd chance. He’ll be out in 3-4 years to kill someone else’s kid!!’ wrote Susan Fontaine.

Many decried the light sentence for the repeat DUI driver’s taking of the young life but Kenneth Harper wrote, “It could be worse. In Los Angeles or San Francisco county he would have gotten a ‘Diversion” program and no jail time. At least here he’s off the streets for a while, finally.”

Reported by the Mountain Democrat, “Smith pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with an enhancement for fleeing the scene; felony hit-and-run resulting in death; and a third count related to the earlier DUI with an enhancement for driving with a blood alcohol level higher than 0.15%.”… “He fled the scene and when he turned himself in four hours later, his blood alcohol level was still a 0.14.”

The staff of The Placerville Newswire would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to Julianna Abballo and family, and to all those devastated by this inexcusable death.