SANTA CRUZ — The 59-year-old Soquel woman charged with killing a pedestrian at a Capitola shopping center and fleeing the scene last year has avoided trial by pleading guilty to charges.
Debra Towne, 70, of Capitola, was walking across the commercial Crossroads Loop at Bay Avenue on the night of Nov. 18 when she was struck and killed by a passing vehicle not far from her home. With the help of surveillance footage from the area, Capitola Police Department investigators tied the hit-and-run to Aurora Lopez, who had been driving a 2023 Honda Pilot, and arrested her Dec. 1. Lopez remained held without bail this week in Santa Cruz County Jail.
During what was scheduled as a hearing Friday to confirm Lopez’s preliminary hearing this week, she instead changed her earlier not-guilty plea to guilty on charges of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence and felony hit-and-run causing death, according to the Santa Cruz County Superior Court system. Atypically, Judge Nancy de la Peña scheduled Lopez’s sentencing more than a year into the future, out to Dec. 1, 2025.
Throughout the past 10 months, Towne’s daughter Adrienne West has sat with family and supporters through each hearing as court dates continually have been delayed. Nearly a year later, West said she still feels the urge to text or call her mother daily to share important or even trivial news. As end-of-year holidays approach — favorites for Towne — West said she is doing her best to keep her mother’s memory alive for family.
West said over the weekend that she was shocked to see Friday’s sudden plea reversal, especially after Lopez had rejected earlier plea deal offerings from the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
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“To hear her say the word ‘guilty’ — I still feel like she didn’t really feel that — but to hear her say those words was something,” West said. “The only relief I have is not to have to see her face, honestly. It kind of stops you in your grief process.”
The combined terms for Lopez’s charged crimes equal a maximum four-year prison term, minus time served and good-behavior credits. By the end of next year, Lopez’s sentence largely will be offset by her time served, but will amount to more time than if she had been sent to prison, where credits can accumulate faster.
West said the punishment did not feel as though it fit the crime, and she worried about what future traffic accidents Lopez could be involved with after her release.
“So many people don’t realize, when you tell people what happened and they’re like, ‘Oh, she’ll get life or whatever,’” West said. “And I’m like, these charges she has, four was the max. Which is crazy, considering drug charges and other less criminal offenses get, like, 10 years or more.”
According to the original complaint filed against Lopez by Assistant District Attorney Alex Byers, Lopez had faced a “numerous” series of prior vehicle code violations that were “increasing in seriousness” since 2007. That driving history served as a factor in Lopez receiving the maximum eligible sentence, Byers said.
“The District Attorney’s Office agrees with Judge de la Peña, who recognized that, based upon her driving history and the facts and circumstances of the case, Lopez is a danger to the community and that the maximum punishment under the law was appropriate,” Byers wrote in response to a Sentinel inquiry.