Restitution Award in DUI Case Reversed and Vacated Because Trial Court’s Calculation Not Rational.
Monetary restitution awards in some criminal cases are a mere “a drop in the bucket,” or sadly insufficient toward paying a victim of crime for damages suffered. For example, a rape victim may receive $1,500 in restitution to compensate her for her medical bills associated with an emergency room visit and for torn or bloodied clothes. The rape victim may have nightmares and a lifetime of anxiety from her experience. In such cases, $1,500 is really an insult, made worse because the defendant pays her $10 per month while in custody.
In other cases, just the opposite occurs. The victim receives a wind fall. In shoplifting cases, a store may recover the stolen merchandise, completely undamaged, and sell it for the full price of the item. The store is paid twice.
In the following 2009 case, a DUI matter, Oscar Muniz was driving his car when hit by DUI Defendant Ronald Pangan on Beach Boulevard in Orange County. Muniz sustained broken ribs, back fractures and a serious knee injury.
Pangan was charged with and convicted of violating Vehicle Code
