October 16th, 2007 by R.J.

Moises Samora Almaguer, 23, of Sebastopol was sentenced today to 8 months in jail and 200 hours community service.

You may not remember Mr. Almaguer, but he was charged with the hit-and-run death of Bryon Pokopowich on March 13th, 2007. Pokopowich was riding his Ducati motorcycle eastbound on Occidental Road when Almaguer, traveling westbound, made a left turn in front of him.

Bryon Pokopowich died at the scene; his body was found 500 feet from his motorcycle.

It’s a pretty disturbing case and I feel the defendant got off way too lightly (which seems to be a trend in our legal system lately). Mr. Almaguer not only fled the scene of an accident, leaving Bryon to die on the side of the road… But after the accident he went to dinner with his family. How callous can someone be?

And was Mr. Almaguer a responsible driver with a clean record, full coverage insurance, involved in this horrible accident by no fault of his own? NO. He was driving on a suspended license, NO insurance, driving his sister’s car, and, of course, he was DRINKING prior to the accident. He should not have been on the road. PERIOD.

This is happening all too often. If you’re driving under the influence; if you’re driving without license or insurance due to suspension; you shouldn’t get off this lightly. Mr. Almaguer should have been tried for murder, because that’s exactly what he committed.

The judge in this case (Judge Rene Chouteau) did Bryon a grave injustice.