On March 7, 2024, an El Dorado County jury found Defendant Sergio Bahena Morales guilty of misdemeanor Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol. It was Morales’s third conviction within ten years for the same offense.
In June of 2023, Morales was stopped by California Highway Patrol on State Route 49 after he was observed driving over the double-yellow line twice in the span of a quarter mile. A chemical test of Morales’s breath taken around thirty minutes after the stop revealed his blood alcohol concentration to be 0.20%, two-and-a-half times the legal limit.
The trial was conducted in Department 1 of the El Dorado Superior Court before the honorable Judge Smith. Testimony was received over a three-day period by officers of the California Highway Patrol and a Criminalist from the California Department of Justice. After a short deliberation, the jury convicted Morales, and Judge Smith sentenced him that same day to a total of 634 days in the El Dorado County jail.