Guilty plea for Pacific Grove man in deadly 2018 crash

A Pacific Grove man has pleaded guilty for his role in a deadly December 2018 crash on Highway 1, the Monterey County District Attorney announced Tuesday.

DA Jeannine Pacioni wrote in a release that Stewart Maxwell Napier, 25, pled guilty to one count of vehicular manslaughter while under the influence and one count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. Gregory Anthony Acona was killed in the accident on December 5, 2018.

Napier was driving on Highway 1 near the 8th street overcrossing in Marina. He said that he looked down for a lighter, and when he looked up, he saw Acona’s brake lights, and they collided. Acona’s car swerved off the road. He died at the scene.

A California Highway Patrol investigation found that Napier was under the influence of methamphetamines and heroin. The DA’s release says Napier admitted to taking these substances before the crash.

Napier will be sentenced on July 16, 2019 to serve seven years behind bars.