Nicholas Gutierrez, a 26-year-old Diamond Bar resident, rescinded his guilty plea on Friday to criminal charges arising from a 2022 wrong-way crash that killed a Los Angeles County sheriff’s recruit and injured more than two dozen others who were on a morning training run, his attorney said Saturday. The decision came after more than a dozen victims addressed the court and the judge indicated a sentence of one year in jail, lawyer Alexandra Kazarian told the Associated Press.
Gutierrez had previously entered a negotiated plea to one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and nine counts of reckless driving causing injuries. Under the terms of the agreement with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, he would have received an eight-year suspended prison sentence and been placed on probation for five years.
“Based on the fact that he has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder, we have withdrawn the plea and will go to trial,” Kazarian said. The medical condition had not been publicly disclosed before the plea withdrawal, and it now becomes the central element of the defense as the case moves toward trial.
The Associated Press reported that a message seeking comment was sent to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
Authorities have said Gutierrez was driving an SUV that veered onto the wrong side of the road in suburban Whittier in November 2022, striking 25 recruits who were on a morning run as part of their academy training. The recruits were part of a larger formation running in the area.
Ten recruits were seriously injured, including Alejandro Martinez. Martinez died from his injuries eight months after the crash, in July 2023. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has memorialized Martinez, who was posthumously sworn in as a deputy.
The case will now proceed to trial, where the seizure-disorder diagnosis is expected to play a significant role in the defense. A trial date has not yet been set.