Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer pleaded not guilty Thursday in a California court to charges of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
Locker's plea was filed in court by his lawyer. Klinghoffer, 44, did not appear at the arraignment. However, court officials told the Post that lawyers routinely appear in court without the parties involved in such misdemeanor cases.
The Pearl Jam guitarist was indicted last month on charges that he struck and killed a pedestrian in a crosswalk while driving a black GMC Yukon in the eastern Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra on March 18.
The victim, Israel Sanchez, 47, was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead later that day. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Sanchez's family against Klinghoffer in July alleges that Sanchez was using a cell phone and driving a car without a license plate at the time of the accident. The complaint also alleges that there is video evidence suggesting Kinghoffer was “likely driving distracted” and “did not brake or slow down to the point of fatally injuring” Sanchez. There is.
However, a person close to the investigation told the Post on Thursday that police have determined that cell phones were not involved in the accident.
Lawyers for Sanchez's family argued this after Thursday's hearing, saying video evidence shows Klinghoffer “holding his phone” as he drove past a business near the accident scene “seconds before” the crash. It looks like there is,” he said.
“Even if they have exculpatory evidence, it's never been presented to us,” Grayson Yoder said. rolling stone.
“All I can see is what I see on the video. If he says he's not answering his phone, fine. But it's broad daylight and he's coming into an intersection, The car didn't have any brake lights, until the man hit me in the crosswalk.''
“I'm skeptical of the exculpatory evidence, and I can't speak for the DA's office or their charges, but at the end of the day, in broad daylight, there were so many things that went into him to make sure something like this didn't happen to him.” There was an opportunity,” Yoder added. . “There's no other word other than negligence. We claim it was gross negligence.”
However, the charges against Klinghoffer filed by the L.A. County Attorney's Office do not allege gross negligence, as court documents reviewed by the Post confirm.
“It was a tragic accident,” Klinghoffer's attorney, Andrew Brettler, said in a statement in July. “After Josh hit this pedestrian at the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped, called 911, and waited until police and an ambulance arrived. Apparently, he contacted police through a traffic investigation. We are cooperating. This was a truly tragic accident.”
Klinghoffer joined Red Hot Chili Peppers as a guitarist in 2009 after his friend John Frusciante left the band, and has been a central figure in the alternative rock world since the late 1980s. did. Frusciante returned in 2019 and Klinghoffer was released.
He currently tours with Pearl Jam as an auxiliary musician and contributed to the group's latest album, Dark Matter. He also releases his own music under the pseudonym Pluralone.
