Crime & Safety
Man's Conviction Upheld for Baldwin Park Counselor's Death
Walter Williams, 37, was driving north on Francisquito Avenue when he was killed in a collision with a vehicle being chased by Baldwin Park Police.
A state appeals court panel has upheld a man's second-degree murder conviction stemming from a June 2010 crash that killed a youth counselor in Baldwin Park.
The three-justice panel on Monday rejected an appeal filed on behalf of Luis Miguel Noriega, who crashed a stolen Chevrolet Tahoe SUV into a Chevrolet Lumina at Ramona Boulevard and Francisquito Avenue on June 18, 2010.
Walter Williams, a 37-year-old counselor at a Baldwin Park youth facility, was thrown from the sedan as it exploded in flames.
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Minutes before the crash, police tried to stop Noriega at Ramona Boulevard and Syracuse Avenue when they saw him driving the SUV, which had been reported stolen a day earlier. He led police on a pursuit of about two miles before the deadly collision.
Noriega was convicted in June 2011 of second-degree murder, evading an officer causing death, leaving the scene of an accident, unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle and receiving stolen property. He was sentenced in September 2011 to 20 years to life in state prison.
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