Trial started Tuesday for a man accused of fatally striking a toddler while driving drunk in City Heights last year.
The prosecutor told the San Diego Superior Court jury that Margarito Angeles Vargas struck the little girl then left the scene, while the defense attorney told the panel her client could not have avoided striking the child.
Angeles Vargas, 47, is accused of hitting 19-month-old Annaleeh Rodarte with a Toyota 4Runner about 6:45 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2022, on Redwood Street near 40th Street. She was taken to a hospital, where she died just after 1 a.m. the following morning.
Angeles Vargas was arrested at his home in the Bay Terraces neighborhood hours after the crash and remains jailed without bail.
He faces a second-degree murder count — which carries a potential 15-years-to-life prison term — because he was convicted of drunken driving in 2016.
Prosecutors allege that Angeles Vargas had a blood-alcohol level of 0.206 percent in the current case, and had a 0.21 percent blood-alcohol level in the 2016 case — both of which are more than two times the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent in California.
According to Deputy District Attorney Hailey Williams, Angeles Vargas has never had a driver’s license.
Defense attorney Marie Maloney conceded her client had been drinking prior to fatally striking the girl but told jurors that due to various factors, he was not able to see the girl as he drove along Redwood Street.
Maloney said the girl and her siblings crossed the road at an unmarked crosswalk and, due to the girl’s short stature and the height of the SUV, Angeles Vargas had a “limited line of vision and was not able to see Annaleeh enter the roadway.”
Maloney told jurors to “hold him accountable” on all charges he faces — including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI — but find him not guilty of the murder charge for what she described as “tragic and horrific, but unavoidable vehicle accident.”
According to testimony, Angeles Vargas attended a baby shower on nearby 39th Street just prior to the collision. After leaving that event, he allegedly drove south on 40th Street and turned left onto Redwood Street.
As his 4Runner turned onto the street, Annaleeh and three of her siblings were crossing the road about midway down the block.
Antonio Rodriguez, a neighbor of the victim’s family, was one of the trial’s first witnesses.
He testified that he was outside changing the oil on his car when he heard the collision. When the driver who struck the girl did not stop, he said he followed the SUV until he saw the driver stop at a food stand near the intersection of Thorn Street and Central Avenue.
Rodriguez said he confronted the driver and told him, “You just ran over a little girl.” The driver allegedly denied it, telling Rodriguez, “You’re crazy,” before driving off.
Maloney cited this alleged encounter in her opening statement as evidence that Angeles Vargas had no clue he’d even struck the girl.
