The group of friends had been drinking at a Ventura bar and were heading back to Santa Paula at the time that the crash occurred. Mercer, a former bartender, received major injuries and was hospitalized for months following the accident.Although several members of the victims’ families asked that Mercer be sentenced to a state prison, his defense attorney and the prosecutor told Superior Court Judge Roland Purcell that they did not support a prison sentence. Mercer’s alcohol level was 0.08 following the crash, a level that represented about four beers. Mercer did not have a criminal record - not even a traffic violation – prior to the crash. He had faced a sentence of more than four years in prison.Judge Purcell also ordered that Mercer be placed on five years probation, including the year that he will spend in jail. At the prosecutor’s request, Mercer was also ordered to participate in the Mothers’ Against Drunk Driving victim-impact panel discussions.
Thanksgiving triple fatal: Mercer sentenced to one-year in jail
February 11, 2005
Santa Paula News
The 24-year-old Ventura man who was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that killed three passengers when it rolled on Foothill Road early Thanksgiving morning in 2003 was sentenced to one-year in jail on Tuesday.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe 24-year-old Ventura man who was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that killed three passengers when it rolled on Foothill Road early Thanksgiving morning in 2003 was sentenced to one-year in jail on Tuesday. Tomas Mercer’s attorney read an apology to the court during the sentencing hearing, following his no-contest plea on charges that he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Mercer was charged with alcohol-involved vehicular manslaughter and a special allegation that that crash involved multiple victims.Mercer was the designated driver and had five passengers in the pickup when it drifted onto the right shoulder and then swerved back onto the pavement. The pickup flipped at least once before it landed on its wheels near Aliso Canyon Road.’Tim Coultas, 23 of Santa Paula and two Ventura residents, Mike Frick, 23, and 22-year-old Rebecca Singer-Beilin, were killed in the crash and declared dead on the scene; Singer-Beilin was thrown from the vehicle during the rollover. Two other passengers received minor injuries.
