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05/07/2007: "Ausilio Pleads Guilty To Vehicular Homicide"

(File photo of 2006 accident on SJ Island)

James Russell Ausilio has pleaded guilty to Vehicular Homicide, and to Vehicular Assault in the single car accident that occurred September second, 2006, in which Ausilio was the driver of a car that crashed on San Juan Island, killing one passenger, and causing serious injuries to the three other occupants of the auto.

According to court records, Ausilio was driving in a “reckless manner”, that resulted in the death of San Juan Island resident Miguel Huerta, and resulted in “substantial bodily harm to Israel Aguayo, Mario Salas, and Gerardo Salas-Valente.

Shortly after the accident occurred, Sheriff Bill Cumming told The Island Guardian that based on the evidence at the scene, it was estimated the vehicle, a 1995 GMC Yukon, was traveling "in access of 70 mph”, and he believed the vehicle may have “rolled at least 2 times, possibly 3 times" .

The potential maximum sentence for the Vehicular Homicide (VH) could be as much as life + 10 years and a $70.000 dollar fine, however the Standard Range for VH is 31 to 41 months, plus 12 to 14 months for the Vehicular Assault charge, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The likely sentence of the lesser standard range could be increased if Ausilio turns out to have prior convictions of a “serious offense’. But in any case the current charges are defined as a serious offense, and as defined by Washington law, if there are a total of three serious offenses -in any state- then under the three-strike provision in Washington, the mandatory sentence is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Since the accident, Ausilio has been living with relatives in Casa Grande Arizona. Ausilio will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on June 29th, in San Juan County Superior Court.