From his cell at Mule Creek State Prison, disgraced businessman and once-prominent insider Roberto P. Vellanoweth has reached back into Sacramento to stir outrage once more in the drunken driving manslaughter case in which he killed four people.

Vellanoweth, 65, who is serving a 17-year, eight-month prison term after his conviction last year in Sacramento Superior Court, has filed a lawsuit against a pal's restaurant that he says served him a boozed-up mystery drink that caused his fatal crash.

The three-page lawsuit filed March 18 in Yolo Superior Court repeats Vellanoweth's discredited trial testimony that he stopped into the Camino Real Restaurant next door to his Broadway office around 3:30 p.m. on the afternoon of March 26, 2007, after having already downed three martinis at lunch.

He testified at trial that somebody at the Camino Real handed him a 12-ounce fruity drink called a "kamikaze virgen," without telling him it was spiked.

Less than 20 minutes later, he crashed his Jeep Grand Cherokee at 72 mph – headlong, on the wrong side of South Land Park Drive – into a Chrysler LeBaron driven by Brizchelle Rice-Nash.

The collision killed Rice-Nash, 21, her 19-month-old son Kamall Osby, her sister Brittanya Rice-Nash, 17, and family friend Shanice Patrice Carter, 18.

Deputy District Attorney Al Locher, in his closing argument last year, characterized Vellanoweth's testimony as a lie, and an absurd one at that.

Vellanoweth's 0.16 blood alcohol level suggested a continuous afternoon of heavy boozing, the prosecutor said, one that probably entailed in the neighborhood of nine drinks.

Locher on Thursday declined to comment, except to say, "I stand by what I said about Mr. Vellanoweth in the criminal trial."

Vellanoweth once served as an appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the state Board of Optometry and also was an appointee of former Gov. Pete Wilson on the Youthful Offender Parole Board.

He was active in the Catholic archdiocese and testified at his trial that he helped Latino business people maneuver their way through governmental bureaucracies.

The inmate's lawsuit alleges the Camino Real, its owner, Antonio Garnica – a Vellanoweth client who testified for the defendant at last year's trial – and 25 John and Jane Does "in some manner bear legal liability or responsibility" for the death ride.

The suit said the Camino Real "had an obligation and a legal duty not to take any action to Mr. Vellanoweth so as to intentionally or negligently cause him any harm. Specifically, the Camino Real had an obligation not to surreptitiously include alcohol in the punch provided to Mr. Vellanoweth without his knowledge or consent."

"As a direct and legal result of the negligence of the Camino Real," the suit continued, "Mr. Vellanoweth was hurt and injured in his health, strength, and activity sustaining injury to his nervous systems and person, all of which injuries have caused and continue to cause, Mr. Vellanoweth great mental, physical, emotional and nervous pain and suffering."

Jesse Ortiz, the Sacramento lawyer who filed the suit on Vellanoweth's behalf, said his client is sticking to his story about the virgin kamikaze. Ortiz said he filed the suit in Yolo County because that's where Vellanoweth, a West Sacramento resident, lived before he was imprisoned.

"We disagree with the district attorney on this," Ortiz said in an interview Thursday. "We are convinced that once we do our investigation on this, what actually happened will be known."

Garnica testified at the trial that it was his late wife, Sara Lopez Garnica, who gave the drink to Vellanoweth. Their daughter Angelita and several other family members in interviews after the trial countered Antonio Garnica's testimony.

They said the woman never gave Vellanoweth the drink, that she didn't like him and that she wouldn't have given him so much as a bowl of chips.

Contacted Thursday at the restaurant, Garnica declined to comment, referring questions to a Rancho Cordova lawyer, Robin Smith, who is representing the restaurant's insurance company. Smith declined to comment on the record.

Greg Bianco, the San Francisco lawyer who is representing the Rice-Nash family in a civil suit against Vellanoweth, called the civil suit filed by the convicted drunk-driving killer a "crock."

"It's outrageous, the arrogance of him," Bianco said.

Bianco, however, has filed a similar suit against the restaurant in Sacramento Superior Court. He said he filed the suit to protect his clients' interests in the future in case a civil jury believes Vellanoweth's story.

"Vellanoweth is the one who is responsible for this collision," Bianco said. "He's not accepting responsibility, and I don't think he ever will. This is another attempt to deflect the perception that he was responsible. It's just upsetting to everybody."

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Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.