DUBLIN — A San Jose man was sentenced to a year of probation for a 2021 car crash that killed a woman just a few minutes after she finished her shift at a Hayward restaurant, court records show.
Edward Marks, 63, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge and was formally sentenced in September, court records show. He was charged in 2022, and tried to get into a diversion program in lieu of criminal prosecution, before eventually accepting the conviction, records show.
On Oct. 10, 2021, Marks hit 40-year-old Catalina Ramos-Orozco as she walked across Main Street in Hayward, after finishing a shift as a server at Acqua e Farina restaurant. Prosecutors say after the crash, Marks told police two things that weren’t true — that Ramos-Orozco had crossed against a “do not walk” sign and that she “jogged” into the roadway.
Ramos-Orozco suffered multiple brain bleeds, underwent surgery, and died three days after the crash, court records show.
In 2023, Marks’ lawyer filed court paperwork highlighting facts more sympathetic to his client, asserting that he had stopped and gave a statement to police and has no prior record of bad driving.
“At the time of the driving, it was dark, there were number of lights in the area in addition to the traffic signals. Because of Covid the street was partially blocked by restaurant parklet offset by orange ‘Jersey’ barriers,” the defense motion says. “While in no way suggesting this defense, in reviewing the video of the incident, one notes that victim was looking at her phone as she left the sidewalk and as she crossed the street, was not attentive to her surroundings.”