LAKEPORT, Calif. – A former Lake County Sheriff's deputy was sentenced this week to jail time for a 2013 crash that killed a Clearlake woman.

On Tuesday, Judge Stephen Hedstrom sentenced James Scott Lewis, 55, to six months in jail for a count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, according to Deputy District Attorney John Langan.

Lewis' attorney, Joshua Olander of the Sacramento law firm Mastagni Holstedt, said his office would not comment on the case at this time.

Lewis was charged for the Oct. 3, 2013, on-duty crash that killed 26-year-old Gabriela Rivas Garcia, who was driving to her job in Kelseyville.

He was responding early that morning with lights and sirens, and driving at a high speed, from Kelseyville to the Lower Lake area on the report of a home invasion robbery.

Lewis' 2009 Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle crossed into the northbound lane on Highway 29 and hit Rivas Garcia's 1995 Honda head-on, killing her. The crash also left Lewis with serious injuries.

Lewis was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2014 and left his job with the county in November of that same year, the county Human Resources Department confirmed to Lake County News earlier this year.

District Attorney Don Anderson said Lewis had been set to go to trial in early August when he and his attorney reached a plea agreement to the vehicular manslaughter charge with Anderson's office and the trial was canceled.

Lewis subsequently pleaded to the charge in November, Langan said.

What hadn't been agreed to in the discussions between the defense and prosecution was the sentence, Anderson said, with the defense wanting probation and community service and the District Attorney's Office seeking the six-month sentence.

Langan said Hedstrom gave the six-month jail sentence over the defense's objections. Hedstrom also included in Lewis' sentence three years of formal misdemeanor probation, with standard probation conditions – including community service in addition to the jail sentence, standard fines and fees – also imposed.

Lewis can serve his jail time at any penal institution, as he no longer lives in Lake County, Langan said.

Langan said it will be up to the sheriff of whatever county in which Lewis serves his sentence as to whether or not Lewis would be eligible for alternative sentencing programs, such as electronic monitoring, work furlough or other such programs.

Hedstrom gave Lewis a turn-in date during the first week of February. Langan said the delay is to allow Lewis time to apply for some type of alternative sentencing – “a practice that is legally available to him and one that is afforded to virtually all criminal defendants similarly situated.”

In May, the Board of Supervisors reached a $600,000 settlement with Rivas Garcia's parents, Gloria Garcia Gamino and Jose Daniel Rivas Cruz, who originally had sought $2.5 million when they filed the suit the previous spring, as Lake County News has reported.

County Counsel Anita Grant explained that the county of Lake, as a public entity employer, is required by state law to indemnify a county employee for any actions occurring within the course and scope of his or her employment.

The settlement the Board of Supervisors reached earlier this year occurred in that context, she added.

As part of Lewis' Tuesday sentencing, Hedstrom reserved restitution to the family of Rivas Garcia, with the criminal court now retaining jurisdiction to impose it should additional damages be discovered or additional claims made after the resolution of the civil case, Langan said.

Langan said that if the victims make any additional restitution claims, Lewis would be entitled to a restitution hearing to challenge the claim and the amount being requested.

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