A Santa Barbara courtroom turned tense on Thursday when a judge handed down probation and a short county-jail term to the driver who pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in a head-on crash that killed 24-year-old Carly Howard. The sentence of five years of formal probation and 270 days in county jail, with six years of state prison time suspended, immediately drew sharp objections from prosecutors and from Howard’s family.
According to KSBY, 29-year-old Katelyn Fultz pleaded no contest and received the probationary sentence even though prosecutors had pushed for more than a decade behind bars and probation officials had recommended more than seven years. The outlet reported that Fultz’s blood-alcohol concentration was 0.167 percent, more than twice the legal limit, that toxicology detected cocaethylene, and that the court reduced one felony DUI count to a misdemeanor.
The crash and the charges
The collision occurred on May 1, 2025, when, according to prosecutors, a truck driven by Fultz crossed double yellow lines and slammed head-on into Howard’s car on Highway 154 near San Antonio Creek Road. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office later filed an amended felony complaint charging Fultz with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and related DUI counts, according to a May 23, 2025 press release from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Howard was placed on life support after the crash and later died from her injuries, her family said in an update reported by the Santa Barbara Independent.
Family and prosecutors react
Family members and the prosecutors who tried the case were publicly outraged by the sentence, CBS Los Angeles reported. Their reaction highlighted a clear split between the District Attorney’s Office, which had pressed for a lengthy state prison term, and the judge’s decision to suspend that time in favor of probation and a local jail sentence.
What the law allows
Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is defined in California Penal Code section 191.5. The charge can carry state prison terms of four, six, or ten years, and judges have discretion in plea deals and sentencing structures. A conviction under this statute typically brings long-term consequences, including license revocation and a felony record…