LOS ANGELES – You can kill someone with your car in California and not even have a point on your license.
A criminal justice reform bill passed in 2020 allows judges to effectively erase a misdemeanor case from existence, shielding people accused of “low-level” crimes from the stigma of having a conviction on their record, something that can limit work and housing opportunities.
But CalMatters investigative reporters Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler found that the new misdemeanor diversion program has also had an unintended consequence: It allows some people charged with vehicular manslaughter to keep the case off of their driving record…