DA: Man found guilty of violating parole a week after conviction in 2019 Salinas crash
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) UPDATE Dec. 14, 2022, at 12:42 p.m - After a week since being sentenced for failure to render aid in a deadly crash, a Carmel Valley man was back in a Salinas courtroom Wednesday morning for violating his parole.
Jacques Martine Clarke, 21, admitted to using methamphetamine on four separate days, including on the day of his sentencing on Dec. 7. He was found guilty of violating his parole, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
He will now be sentenced for violating his parole on Jan. 6. The parole board recommends all programs be taken from Clarke, including the possibility of serving his year in the county jail at home.
The district attorney's office says Clarke could be let out in six months with credits. Until at least his sentencing hearing, Clarke will remain in Monterey County Jail.
Clarke was previously convicted for failure to render aid in a crash that killed a Salinas mother, Rosie Figueroa, in 2019. He was sentenced to a year in county jail with two years of felony probation.
Man sentenced for failure to render aid in crash that killed Salinas mother back in jail for alleged meth use: DA
UPDATE Dec. 13, 2022, at 4:42 p.m.- The man sentenced for failure to render aid in a crash that killed a Salinas mother, Rosie Figueroa, in 2019 is back in Monterey County Jail, less than a week after being sentenced to a year in county jail.
Jacques Martine Clarke allegedly violated his parole and admitted verbally and in writing to doing methamphetamine on the day of his sentencing and three other occasions after, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
Clarke refused to give urine and oral samples when probation officers came for a probation check, said the DA's office. Clarke later admitted to doing meth on Dec. 7, the day of his sentencing, Dec. 8, Dec. 9 and Dec. 11.
He is back in court for arraignment on Wednesday, Dec. 14, for these allegations. The district attorney's office said it is up to a judge to decide how these parole violations will impact his sentencing.
UPDATE Dec. 7, 2022, at 2:42 p.m.- One of two men involved in a crash that resulted in the death of Salinas mother in Dec. 2019 has been sentenced Wednesday in a Monterey County courtroom.
Jacques Martine Clarke was sentenced to a year in county jail with two years of probation for failing to render aid or delaying rendering aid to a victim
Jacques Martine Clarke was sentenced to a year in county jail with two years of probation for failing to render aid or delaying rendering aid to a victim. The vehicle owner who is present has that duty, said the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
In Dec. 2019, a crash resulted in the death of 38-year-old Rosie Figueroa. The crash happened near Davis Road and West Acacia.
Investigators believed Clarke, 18 at the time, of Carmel, was speeding in a Mazda as he drove north on Davis Road near the rear of a Toyota being driven by Rosie Figueroa.
The CHP said Clarke's vehicle hit Figueroa's, causing it to spin out of control before the driver's side hit a large tree and the car overturned. Figueroa died at the scene, and her passenger was taken to Natividad to be treated for major injuries. Clarke was evaluated for DUI and arrested.
Clarke was driving with Tyrone Moore in the car that night, Clarke and Moore were both outside the vehicle when CHP arrived. Since Clarke was the car's owner, he was the only one tested that night, said law officials.
Later in the investigation, DNA evidence from the passenger side of the vehcile dismissed Clarke as the driver, but the DA's office said, "The results were not 100% conclusive because there was a mixture of DNA on the airbag which was neither Clarke's nor (Tyrone) Moore's."
Moore was killed in a hit-and-run crash in March in Nevada, said the Monterey DA's Office.
Man pleads no contest for charge in deadly crash of Salinas mother in 2019
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) UPDATE Oct. 5, 2022, at 1:09 p.m.- A Carmel Valley man has pled no contest to a charge stemming from a crash that happened on December 2019 near Davis Road and West Acacia, according to Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
The crash resulted in the death of Salinas mother, 38-year-old Rosie Figueroa, and her passenger was taken to the hospital for major injuries.
Jacques Martine Clarke was charged with a felony for failing to render aid or delaying rendering aid to a victim. The vehicle owner who is present has that duty, said the DA's office.
Clarke will receive felony probation for up to two years and could serve a year in county jail.
The court advised Clarke no contest is the same as a guilty plea for the judge's purposes.
He is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 7.
DA: Man charged again for involvement in crash death of Salinas mother in 2019 pleads not guilty
A 21-year-old suspect has pleaded not guilty to new charges filed by the Monterey County District Attorney's Office in the death of a Salinas mother in 2019, according to the Monterey County Court.
Jacques Martine Clarke of Carmel Valley entered a not-guilty plea on a felony charge on Friday in court.
KION EXCLUSIVE: After charges dismissed, initial suspect in deadly Salinas crash shares his story
The DA's office filed the following charges earlier this month:
Vehicle Code section 20001(b)(2), if:
Monterey County District Attorney's Office
(1) he was riding as a passenger in that vehicle when it is involved in an accident;
(2) at the time of the accident, he had full authority to direct and control the vehicle even though
another person was driving the vehicle;
(3) the accident caused death or permanent, serious injury to someone else;
(4) he knew that the vehicle had been involved in an accident that injured or killed another person
or knew from the nature of the accident that it was probable that another person had been injured;
AND
(5) he willfully failed to provide reasonable assistance to any person injured in the accident;
OR
if the accident causes death, he fails to notify, without unnecessary delay, either the police
department of the city where the accident happened or the local headquarters of the California
Highway patrol, if the accident happened in an unincorporated area.
Clarke posted bail on June 7 and was arraigned on a complaint today for his new charge. He is next scheduled for court on August 3 at 8:30 a.m., according to the Monterey County Court Portal.
DA: Arrest warrant wanted for man involved in 2019 crash that killed Salinas mother
UPDATE JUNE 1, 2022, at 6:21 p.m.-- The Monterey County District Attorney's Office is trying to get an arrest warrant for a Carmel Valley man involved in a deadly crash that killed a Salinas mother in 2019.
Jacques Martine Clarke, 18 at the time, was in the passenger seat and drunk when the car he was in allegedly rear-ended Rosie Figueroa, 38, in December of 2019. The DA's office said Figueroa ended up hitting a tree, and she and her passenger were severally injured, with Figueroa dying of her injuries.
DNA evidence from the passenger side of the vehcile dismissed Clarke as the driver, but the DA's office said, "The results were not 100% conclusive because there was a mixture of DNA on the airbag which was neither Clarke's nor (Tyrone) Moore's."
Now the DA's office hopes to arrest Clarke on new charges.
Vehicle Code section 20001(b)(2), if:
Monterey County Da's Office
(1) he was riding as a passenger in that vehicle when it is involved in an accident;
(2) at the time of the accident, he had full authority to direct and control the vehicle even though
another person was driving the vehicle;
(3) the accident caused death or permanent, serious injury to someone else;
(4) he knew that the vehicle had been involved in an accident that injured or killed another person
or knew from the nature of the accident that it was probable that another person had been injured;
AND
(5) he willfully failed to provide reasonable assistance to any person injured in the accident;
OR
if the accident causes death, he fails to notify, without unnecessary delay, either the police
department of the city where the accident happened or the local headquarters of the California
Highway patrol, if the accident happened in an unincorporated area.
The DA's office added that Moore died in a hit-and-run crash in Nevada on March 9, 2022.
---
UPDATE 12/2/2020-- 3 p.m. The case against an 18-year-old accused of causing a deadly crash while under the influence will be dismissed after DNA evidence showed that he was not the driver at the time of the crash.
The crash happened in December 2019 near Davis Road and W. Acacia. Investigators said evidence showed that a speeding Mazda hit a Toyota driven by 38-year-old Rosie Figueroa, who died at the scene when the vehicle overturned and crashed through a fence.
When officers arrived, they said the two people who had been inside the Mazda, including 18-year-old Jacques Clarke, were already out of the car. No witnesses were at the scene to say who had been driving. Still, investigators believed Clarke was driving because the vehicle was registered to him, the key fob was found in his pocket and the driver's seat appeared to be better adjusted to someone his size than the other person in the car.
When a DUI investigation was conducted, police say Clarke was under the influence of alcohol and subsequently arrested.
READ MORE: Family of Salinas crash victim campaigns for "Justice for Rosie" outside courthouse
Investigators sent DNA taken from the airbag on the passenger side of the Mazda to the Department of Justice for DNA analysis.
"It came back conclusively that Clarke was in the passenger seat and therefore could not have been the driver," says Monterey County District Attorney, Jeannine Pacioni.
Based on the findings, the DA's Office is set to dismiss the charges against Clarke on Friday.
On Wednesday, that news weighed heavily on the victim's family.
"A lot of people can't believe what's happening, they're up in arms, they're upset, we want answers," says Socrates Figueroa, brother of Rosie Figueroa.
Socrates says every day has been a battle for him as he tries to make sense of the loss of his sister.
"I wake up in the middle of the night and I see her face, I think of her often, I hear songs that remind me of her, I see her daughter, I spend time with her daughter and it reminds me of her."
The Figueroa family says they want a conviction as they pursue justice in Rosie's death.
The investigation into the case is continuing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Investigator Leonardo Gomez at 831-755-5000.
ORIGINAL STORY
The Monterey County District Attorney's Office confirms that a dismissal hearing has been scheduled for an 18-year-old accused of causing a deadly crash while under the influence.
The prosecutor assigned to the case, Deputy District Attorney Lindsey O'Shea, said the case against the suspect, Jacques Clarke, is set to be dismissed due to newly discovered evidence, but could not give more details.
"I am unable to comment on what that evidence is at this time, because it would compromise the ongoing investigation currently being conducted by my office. We remain committed to securing justice for Ms. Figueroa and her surviving family members," O'Shea told KION.
The crash happened in December of last year in Salinas. Police and officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to the crash on the corner of Davis Road and W. Acacia Street and found a Mazda 6 with major damage and a Toyota Camry that had overturned and crashed through a residential fence.
Investigators believed 18-year-old Jacques Clarke of Carmel was speeding in the Mazda as he drove north on Davis Road near the rear of the Toyota, driven by Rosie Figueroa.
The CHP said Clarke's vehicle hit Figueroa's, causing it to spin out of control before the driver's side hit a large tree and the car overturned. Figueroa died at the scene, and her passenger was taken to Natividad to be treated for major injuries. Clarke was evaluated for DUI and arrested.
In court, Clarke pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. The dismissal hearing is scheduled for December 4.
