Jury's Failure To Reach Verdict On Murder Charge Leads To Deal In Fatal DUI Case

Monday November 18, 2024

     Update--A man who had been charged with second degree murder in a fatal Oxnard DUI crash has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge after the judge dismissed the murder charge when the jury was unable to reach a verdict on that count.

     36-year-old Nathaniel Wills of Los Angeles will be sentenced in January for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

     He also pleaded guilty to several other DUI related charges and a host of special allegations related to the fatal crash and his extensive history of drunken driving.

     It was that extensive history that prompted prosecutors to originally charge him with second degree murder following the January 2021 DUI related crash on Rose Avenue in Oxnard that killed one of his passengers and injured two others.

     Wills was also seriously injured in the solo vehicle crash.

     Wills had four prior DUI convictions and because of that was driving that morning with no license.

     Prosecutors say he was speeding and under the influence of alcohol again.

     When the judge dismissed the murder charge he allowed the DA's office to seek a new trial on the remaining counts.

     But Wills decided to plead guilty to those other charges ending the need for a retrial.