Case # 13HF2830
Date: March 10, 2015
ATTORNEY CONVICTED OF CRASHING CAR AND KILLING BICYCLIST WHILE DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
NEWPORT BEACH – An attorney was convicted today of crashing her car into a bicyclist and killing him while driving under the influence of prescription drugs. Hasti Fakhrai-Bayrooti, 41, Rancho Santa Margarita, pleaded guilty today to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. She faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison. She is out of custody on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department H-13, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
At approximately 6:45 p.m. on March 15, 2013, Fakhrai-Bayrooti was driving her car southbound on Santa Margarita Parkway in Mission Viejo after consuming prescription drugs, including Xanax and Suboxone. She swerved into a bike lane, crashing into 54-year-old bicyclist Eric Billings between the intersection of El Toro Road and Los Alisos Boulevard, causing the victim to roll over the hood and windshield. The victim died at the scene as a result of sustaining multiple traumatic injuries from the crash.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) arrived at the scene and investigated this case. OCSD arrested the defendant on Sept. 23, 2013, after the Orange County Crime Laboratory analyzed the blood evidence.
At the time of the crime, Bayrooti had been an active member of the State Bar of California since 2005.
Deputy District Attorney Stephen Cornwell of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.