BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK/KBFX) — A repeat DUI offender accused of killing two women and injuring another in a suspected DUI crash in south Bakersfield will have to wait longer for his case to move forward, according to Kern County Superior Court officials.
Arturo Munoz’s murder case, in the deaths of Hortencia Garcia De Haro and Vanessa Lasar, was delayed to June.
Court records show the delay is tied to an unrelated assault with a deadly weapon case filed last year. Munoz is scheduled to appear on May 15 in that case.
Munoz faces eight charges stemming from the February 2024 crash, including second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, and charges related to three prior DUI convictions in the past eight years, according to court records and Bakersfield police. He pleaded not guilty in February 2024.
On Feb. 9, 2024. Bakersfield police officers were monitoring White Lane and Hughes Lane just after 11 p.m. after receiving reports of reckless drivers at a car meet in a nearby parking lot.
Officers followed several vehicles and stopped in the 1900 block of Planz Road when they saw a crash involving a Chevrolet Tahoe, driven by Arturo Munoz, 25 at the time, that had been seen at the meet. A white sedan was also involved, and three women in the sedan were seriously injured, police said…