A 64-year-old Long Beach man who caused a drug-fueled collision in Costa Mesa that killed a 12-year-old boy was sentenced on Friday, Sept. 5, to 30 years to life in prison.
An Orange County Superior Court jury earlier this year convicted Richard David Lavalle of second-degree murder for the Dec. 6, 2020, collision at Junipero and Arlington drives that killed Noel Bascon.
Lavalle’s sentence was increased due to a criminal history that includes a federal bank robbery conviction in 2009 and a robbery conviction in 2018. Lavalle was also convicted of a DUI in San Diego County Superior Court, according to court filings, and was warned that if he continued to drink and drive and caused someone’s death he could be charged with murder.
Lavalle was driving a U-Haul pickup eastbound on Arlington just before 6 p.m. when he ignored a stop sign and crashed into the boy, who was out on a bike ride with his father. The boy — whose bicycle had reflectors and lights — was riding within a marked crosswalk when he was struck.
During Lavalle’s trial, the boy’s father, Glen Bascon, described his shocked at how fast the pickup was traveling.
“I was screaming to make him stop,” the emotional father testified.
The boy was thrown from his bike. He died at a hospital a short time later.
Lavalle admitted that he had been driving the pickup. A blood test that night found methamphetamine in Lavalle’s system, according to prosecutors.
Lavalle’s attorney, Senior Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Ryan, told Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Cassidy that Lavalle was extremely remorseful about the “horrible accident” and that he had offered his condolences to the boy’s family.
Lavalle is a U.S. Marine Corp veteran who has received treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court filings.
The boy’s mother told the judge that her son’s death had “broken” their family, leaving them “sentenced to a life without our son.”
“This whole case was tragic,” Judge Cassidy said. “There were a lot of bad circumstances. But I can’t get beyond the fact his conduct caused the death of this young man, which will affect his family for the rest of their lives.”
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