{"id":62953,"date":"2015-04-29T14:59:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T21:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=62953"},"modified":"2015-04-29T15:18:25","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T22:18:25","slug":"hearing-moved-to-late-may-for-alleged-drunk-driver-who-crashed-into-womans-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/04\/29\/hearing-moved-to-late-may-for-alleged-drunk-driver-who-crashed-into-womans-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing moved to late May for alleged drunk driver who crashed into woman’s home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lancaster<\/a>
Lancaster resident Aaron Daniel Benson [left] allegedly crashed his pickup into several parked cars on both sides of the street as he moved westbound on Avenue J-12 before slamming into a 71-year-old woman\u2019s home and crushing her as she slept March 29.<\/figcaption><\/figure>LANCASTER – A preliminary hearing on Wednesday was continued to May 27 for a man accused of killing an elderly woman by\u00a0crashing into her home while driving drunk.<\/p>\n

The hearing for 25-year-old Aaron Daniel Benson<\/strong>, of Lancaster, seeks to establish if there is enough evidence to put the defendant on trial.<\/p>\n

Facing a possible maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison if convicted, Benson on Wednesday successfully substituted his public defender for a private defense attorney.<\/p>\n

Judge Shannon Knight then granted a request to continue the preliminary hearing to May 27, noting that the defendant’s new attorney would need sufficient time to review discovery and other court materials.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Benson consented to waive his right to a speedy hearing to allow for the continuation. Even so, the court upheld his bail at $1 million.<\/p>\n

The defendant pleaded not guilty on April 15 to murder and other felony charges for allegedly driving drunk on March 29 and killing a 71-year-old woman sleeping inside her Lancaster home in the 1000 block of West Avenue J-12.<\/p>\n

Benson is charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury within 10 years of another DUI offense, and driving with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury within 10 years of another DUI offense. The criminal complaint alleges he was previously convicted of DUI in October 2011.<\/p>\n

The victim, Patricia Ann Holmes<\/strong>, was pronounced dead at the scene, after her body was discovered in her bed beneath Benson’s 2001 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.<\/p>\n

According to authorities, Benson allegedly crashed his pickup into several parked cars on both sides of the street as he drove westbound on Avenue J-12 prior to slamming into the elderly woman\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

The defendant has been in custody since then, while being held in lieu of $1 million bail. The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Lancaster Station.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Man pleads not guilty in crash that killed elderly woman sleeping inside Lancaster home<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Murder charge filed in Lancaster home crash that killed sleeping elderly woman<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Suspected DUI driver crashes into Lancaster home, woman killed<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

About the author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Jim E. Winburn is freelance reporter covering news of public interest.<\/address>\n
–<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – A preliminary hearing on Wednesday was continued to May 27 for a man accused of killing an elderly woman by\u00a0crashing into her home while driving drunk. The hearing for 25-year-old Aaron Daniel Benson, of Lancaster, seeks to establish if there is enough evidence to put the defendant on trial. Facing a possible maximum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":62583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}