California Laws Let Vehicular Manslaughter Driver Avoid Criminal Record, Victims' Families Say

California laws are letting drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter keep clean criminal and driving records, victims' families say. They are calling for changes to address what they see as excessive leniency.

Allison Lyman seeks accountability for the crash that killed her son, Connor Lopez, last year. She blames soft-on-crime measures passed under Gov. Gavin Newsom for weakening penalties in road deaths. "You know, our hunch is this was all happening during ‘soft on crime,’ ‘let's clear the jails,’" Lyman said. "And the consequence now is us — with these drivers right back on our roads."

Lopez died in a collision on April 23, 2025, when 50-year-old Harkit Kaur turned into oncoming traffic and blocked his motorcycle, eyewitnesses told police. Kaur passed a standardized field sobriety test and showed no signs of intoxication, according to reports.

Lyman learned the death counted as a misdemeanor under state rules for non-violent crimes, on par with or below shoplifting. Prosecutors then mentioned a diversion program that could erase the charge entirely, thanks to AB 3234, which Newsom signed in 2020.

"I won’t ever forget the day I sat in front of the DA. He said something about a ‘diversion program.’ And then we learned: Governor Newsom signed AB 3234 into law," Lyman said.

The measure lets judges dismiss certain misdemeanor charges pretrial if defendants finish court programs. It treats the arrest as if it never happened. The law covers more than traffic cases.

"And then the charge is dismissed. It is erased," Lyman said. "The driver that killed Connor has never lost her license. I've seen her driving."

Kaur has not received a final diversion ruling. Sentencing comes next week. Lyman said other Newsom laws push courts toward diversion over jail. She joined a video hearing for a woman whose husband died in Sacramento. That case also involved a misdemeanor before the same judge.

"The judge was talking about making his decision and cited this code that I had never heard of — 17.2," Lyman said. "And it was another law passed in 2023 that essentially tells judges to consider everything, including diversion, before jail."

Newsom signed that provision through AB 2167. It requires courts to weigh options like collaborative justice programs, diversion, restorative justice and probation before incarceration.

One year after her son's death, Lyman works with lawmakers on SB 953. The bill would force reports of all vehicular manslaughter cases to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Sen. Roger Niello, R-Calif., sponsors the measure. It would add two points to a defendant's driving record even with diversion. "Under current laws, a speeding ticket can now have a greater reflection on a driver's record than killing somebody with a car," Niello said at a press event this week. "A diversion does not change the fact that a fatality occurred."

"The DMV cannot do its job of determining who poses a risk and who does not."

The bill passed committee unanimously on Tuesday.