Man sentenced in fatal crash in Davis that followed domestic violence conviction

A West Sacramento man has been sentenced to 42 years and four months in state prison for vehicular manslaughter and domestic violence.

The charges against Steven Hendrix, 33, stem from separate cases. Five days before he was involved in a February 2016 crash in Davis that killed a 71-year-old woman, Hendrix had been convicted of domestic violence but was allowed to stay out of jail after posting bail, according to a Yolo County District Attorney’s Office news release.

On Thursday, Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul K. Richardson sentenced Hendrix on one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one count of driving while under the influence causing injury, with an enhancement for injuring multiple people, and four counts of child endangerment.

Hendrix also was resentenced in a 2015 domestic violence case that included two counts of felony domestic violence on two separate dates. Hendrix was convicted in the domestic violence case on Feb. 19, 2016 and was out of jail on bail when he was involved in the Feb. 24, 2016 crash that resulted in the vehicular manslaughter charge, the news release said.

Evidence presented during a trial in May showed that Hendrix drove a car more than 80 mph in a 45 mph zone on Second Street, a two-lane roadway, in Davis. He was under the influence of methamphetamine and marijuana and started tailgating a vehicle. Hendrix then passed the vehicle in the bike lane and came within a few feet of sideswiping a bicyclist, who was well within the bike lane, the news release said. He then passed a car in the two-way turn lane.

As Hendrix started to return to the normal traffic lane, he struck a vehicle driven by 71-year-old Cynthia Jonasen as she turned off Cantrill Drive onto Second Street. Jonasen suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene.

With Hendrix at the time of the collision were his domestic violence victim, her three minor children, her sister, the sister’s young child and three dogs. All the people in his car were injured and at least two still have symptoms of their injuries, the news release said.

A previous jury convicted Hendrix of domestic violence that occurred in April and June of 2015 in which he choked his girlfriend in the presence of her children. Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdams also found that Hendrix had been involved in a previous domestic violence incident in Sacramento County in 2011 and that he had a prior strike conviction under California’s “three strikes” law.

The prior strike conviction was for a felony first-degree residential burglary, according to the news release.

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Man sentenced in fatal crash in Davis that followed domestic violence conviction."