Escondido Man Sentenced For Fatal Hit-And-Run

VISTA, Calif. -- An Escondido man who was drunk when his SUV slammed into a bicyclist on North Highway 101 and then fled the scene of the fatal accident and washed his car, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in state prison.

Brian Stephen Carnes, 43, previously pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run causing injury. He also admitted a sentence-enhancing allegation that he fled after hitting 40-year-old Jeannie Franklin on March 16, 2007.

After the noontime crash, Carnes tried to wash the victim's blood off his car, and bought new headlights to replace the ones damaged in the accident, said Deputy District Attorney Brenda Daly.

According to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing last year, Carnes left his job at a grocery store around 8:30 a.m. the day of the accident and bought whiskey, then drank at least one of the two bottles of liquor at a beach near La Jolla before driving home.

His blood-alcohol level was measured at .26 percent -- more than three times the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle -- several hours after the crash.

Daly said Carnes drifted into the bicycle lane in Solana Beach near Solana Vista Drive, struck Franklin and threw her into a tree, killing her.

A senior volunteer with the Sheriff's Department witnessed the crash, followed Carnes' vehicle as he fled the scene, and was able to write down his license plate number.

Carnes was contacted at his North County home 90 minutes after the accident, and authorities found damage to the right side of his Toyota 4Runner and two bottles of Yukon Jack whiskey, one of which was empty.

The defendant had a 1998 conviction for driving under the influence.