Former Sizzling Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer accepted a plea deal to keep away from jail time for by accident killing a pedestrian in California final 12 months.
Klinghoffer, 45, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with out gross negligence in an Alhambra courtroom on Wednesday, Rolling Stone reported.
Klinghoffer — who was dealing with one 12 months behind bars — was sentenced to a 12 months of casual probation and 60 days of group labor for working over and killing 47-year-old Israel Sanchez along with his 2022 GMC Yukon on March 18, 2024, within the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra.
Sanchez was transported to an area space hospital and declared lifeless later that day. Officers dominated his reason behind demise to be blunt drive trauma to the top.
Los Angeles County Choose Rosa Fregoso additionally sentenced Klinghoffer to finish a driver security class and pay restitution to Sanchez’s household, which will likely be decided at a later date, in response to Rolling Stone.
Following Klinghoffer’s plea, a prosecutor warned him of the risks of distracted driving and mentioned he may very well be charged with homicide if he killed somebody once more.
Sanchez’s daughter, Ashley Sanchez, was in tears as she learn a sufferer influence assertion about how her father was “the heart” of her household.
“My father was an extraordinary grandfather to my [children],” the heartbroken daughter instructed the court docket, in response to Rolling Stone. “His absence has left an irreversible void in our lives.”
After praising her father as a rare prepare dinner and painter with a “unique gift for soothing” those he liked along with his meals and artwork, she addressed Klinghoffer immediately.
She instructed the rocker her father’s demise was an “avoidable loss that has shaken my family,” and his irresponsible actions have left her and others with “deep and lasting trauma.”
A wrongful demise swimsuit filed by Sanchez’s household in July in opposition to Klinghoffer alleges the musician was utilizing a cellphone and driving a automotive with no plates when the accident happened.
The lawsuit additionally claims that there’s video proof suggesting Klinghoffer “was likely driving while distracted,” was utilizing “a device mere seconds before,” and “made no braking or slowing motion until after he fatally struck” Sanchez.
Nonetheless, police have decided that Klinghoffer was not utilizing a cellphone on the time of the accident.
Video of the accident, obtained by TMZ, exhibits the black SUV making a left flip on the intersection of West Principal Avenue and Meridian Avenue after which hanging Sanchez.
The driving force of the SUV was seen pulling over, strolling over to the physique, turning round, and shortly strolling again to the automotive.
A decide denied the household’s renewed try to hunt damages within the lawsuit in January, in response to Rolling Stone.
The decide dominated that the claims in opposition to the guitarist’s actions weren’t “willful and conscious disregard” for the security of others round him when he hit and killed Sanchez.
Klinghoffer has been a staple within the alt-rock world because the late aughts, becoming a member of The Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers as a guitarist in 2009 following the departure of his good friend, John Frusciante, from the band.
In 2012, Klinghoffer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame alongside the band, which made him the youngest inductee at 32 years outdated.
Throughout his time with the Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers, he recorded two studio albums, I’m with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016).
In 2019, Frusciante returned, and Klinghoffer was let go from the band.
Klinghoffer has not too long ago toured with Pearl Jam as a supplemental musician and contributed to the group’s most up-to-date album, “Dark Matter.”
He additionally releases his personal music underneath the pseudonym Pluralone.
