Closing arguments heard in Orestimba Creek drowning case

Closing arguments started Friday in a wrongful death trial involving a man who drowned in 2005 when a car he was riding in hit a flooded portion of a road and was swept into Orestimba Creek near Newman.

David Renteria, attorney for the man’s family, argued Stanislaus County is responsible for Hector Alvarez’s death, because public works officials failed to barricade the road before the car arrived at the flooded area.

“This case is extraordinarily important, because the community is at risk,” Renteria argued. “The Alvarez family just happened to be one of the victims.”

Renteria finished presenting his closing argument late Friday afternoon, so Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ended the day.

Attorney Lee Hedgepeth, defending Stanislaus County, will get his chance to present his closing argument when the civil trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Department 24 at the City Tower building, 801 10th St., Modesto.

In his opening statements in the trial, Hedgepeth said the jurors’ task is to decide if the victim should be assigned some blame because he was intoxicated when the drowning occurred.

Renteria has said Alvarez had a few beers at his Crows Landing home and three large drinks at a New Year’s Eve 2005 party the night of the drowning.

On Friday, Renteria argued that alcohol has nothing to do with Alvarez’s death. His 20-year-old daughter was behind the wheel of a 2001 Kia Rio that was swept into the creek’s swift-moving water.

Renteria brought into the courtroom a road barricade similar to those that should have been posted on Eastin Road, warning drivers not to cross over the flooded road. The barricade remained in the courtroom, in front of the judge’s bench, throughout the attorney’s closing argument.

He repeatedly told the jury the barricades had been brought to the area before the flooding, but they were just thrown on the side of the road.

“The reality is this wasn’t there for these people,” Renteria said while pointing to the barricade. “They took the barricades down there, but they didn’t put them up.”

Also on Friday, the judge was notified that one of the jurors was overheard in the morning speaking on the phone. The juror, who is an alternate on the 14-member panel, was heard saying the county’s public works director was not in the courtroom Friday, and that she had searched the county’s Web site.

The judge questioned the juror in open court, outside of the rest of the jury’s presence. She denied saying those things on the phone, and said she had not searched the Internet for anything involving the case.

Beauchesne told the attorneys there did not seem to be any misconduct, so he was not excusing the alternate juror from the trial. He said the juror appears to be as dedicated to her duties as the others on the jury.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at 578-2394.

This story was originally published April 8, 2011 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Closing arguments heard in Orestimba Creek drowning case."