Last week the Orange County District Attorney’s Office had declined to file charges fagainst a driver accused of a DUI crash that killed a 9-year-old girl and her 33-year-old mother on New Year’s Day on the 22 Freeway.
Melvin Branch, 30, was scheduled to be in court Thursday, facing DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter charges, but prosecutors sent the case back to the CHP for further investigation saying that there was insufficient evidence at the time leading to his being released from jail.
Branch has now been rearrested for multiple crimes including: two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one count each of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or more causing bodily injury, resisting an officer and assault on a peace officer. He also faces sentencing enhancements for causing bodily injury and death to multiple victims and fleeing the scene of a crime.
Branch, a Maryland native, pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment Monday morning.
Authorities say Branch was involved in a four-vehicle pileup just before 1 a.m. Tuesday on the westbound side of the 22 in the Garden Grove area. A 9-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene and her mother died at a nearby hospital.
Friends and family have identified the victims and together a GoFundMe page for Jolene Gardner and her daughter, Payton Castillo. The page says they were driving home from a New Year’s Eve party.
Accidents like these often leave families with the right to pursue a claim. As one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in California, Callahan & Blaine has obtained numerous record-breaking verdicts and settlements in cases like this, helping bring some small justice to the aggrieved family. If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, contact the best personal injury attorneys in Orange County for expert legal counsel.
