Hit and Run Driver Who Killed Rohnert Park Man Sentenced

A Santa Rosa woman was sentenced Friday to 365 days in Sonoma County Jail for a vehicle crash that killed a Rohnert Park man last year, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Shelly J. Averill suspended 90 days of Maria R. Lopez Nunez's sentence for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, Ravitch said.

Nunez, 38, pleaded no contest to the manslaughter charge before she was convicted of the felony charge during an eight-day trial last month.

The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said Nunez made an illegal left turn in front of a motorcycle driven by Ali Richard Uralli, 63, on Rohnert Park Expressway and Redwood Drive on May 31.

The motorcycle struck the side of Nunez's Ford Explorer, ejecting Uralli from the motorcycle, Ravitch said. Uralli suffered head, spine and internal injuries and died June 8 in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Ravitch said.

Nunez drove away after the accident, but witnesses followed her car and Rohnert Park police found her at the Rancho Feliz Mobile Home Park.

Ravitch hopes that Nunez's sentencing sends a message of intolerance with regard to fatal hit-and-run offenses.

"We will continue to vigorously prosecute individuals who compound their culpability after causing injury or death on the roadways by leaving victims to suffer or perish," Ravitch said.

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