BANNING — A 22-year-old motorist who fatally hit a bicyclist at a San Jacinto intersection, then fled, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in state prison.
Savaughn JoJuan Colon Barnes of Hemet pleaded guilty in January to hit- and-run resulting in death under an agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a crime against Barnes.
During Tuesday’s hearing at the Banning Justice Center, Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz certified the terms of the plea deal and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.
Barnes fatally struck 31-year-old Margarito Castro of San Jacinto in December 2022. There was no indication that the defendant and victim knew one another.
According to Sgt. Dawn Blair of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, at about 8 p.m. on Dec. 4, Castro was in the center median, waiting to cross State Street at Dillon Avenue, when Barnes approached, going southbound on State “at a high rate of speed” in his Hyundai sedan.
“The driver of the Hyundai entered the center median … and struck the victim,” Blair said.
She said Barnes didn’t stop.
Witnesses called 911, and county fire department paramedics reached the location within a few minutes, pronouncing Castro dead at the scene.
“A witness came forward and provided the license plate of the suspect vehicle,” Blair said.
She said patrol deputies found Barnes’ car parked outside an apartment building in the 1900 block of Acacia Avenue in Hemet, where the defendant was taken into custody without incident.
