Hit-and-Run Suspects to Stand Trial

An L.A. Superior Court judge ruled there is enough evidence to hold Claudia Cabrera, 30, and her husband Josue Luna, 33, for trial. The trial has been set for Sept. 29.

Prosecutors say Cabrera was driving the car that struck and killed 18-year-old Adrianna Bachan and seriously injured Marcus Garfinkle, then 19, last March. Cabrera has been charged with one felony
count of leaving the scene of an accident and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.

Luna is charged with one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident. Authorities say that moments after the crash, he removed Garfinkle from the car's windshield before it sped off.

"It's apparent they did nothing to render aid,'' Judge Mary Lou Villar said, commenting on evidence presented during the preliminary hearing. "They left the scene.''

The judge said testimony showed Garfinkle was pulled from the windshield of the car and "dumped on the sidewalk.''

The crash took place as Bachan and Garfinkle, who was walking her home, crossed Jefferson Boulevard at Hoover Street just before 3 a.m.

"What we have here is an individual that didn't have insurance and was afraid of getting arrested,'' Deputy District Attorney Janis Johnson said of Cabrera.

The couple's 7-month-old son was in the back seat of the car at the time of the crash, authorities said.

In the hours before the crash, the defendants had been at a party in the San Fernando Valley, where they "ordered margaritas and beer'' and later got into a heated argument over comments made about the Kardashian sisters, stars of a television reality show, according to testimony today by Jennifer Cabrera, the defendant's sister.

Investigators serving a search warrant on the couple's home found broken glass in the garage and tarps speckled with blood, Los Angeles police Detective Sandra Smith testified.

The two remain in jail in lieu of $1 million bail each.

Information from the City News Service was used to write this report.