A Los Osos woman who killed a bicyclist while driving drunk in 2018, has been sentenced to State Prison, after she did it again last October, though without any fatalities this second time.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced that Gianna Catherine Brencola, 23 of Los Osos, was sentenced to 6-years in State Prison for a Halloween night crash in the 700 block of The Embarcadero in Morro Bay.
Last Oct. 31, Brencola crashed her car into four parked cars and reportedly tried to flee the scene but was detained by two witnesses to the crashes.
The D.A. said, “One of the people physically removed Brencola from her vehicle while the other put her car in park and removed the keys from the ignition.” She apparently tried to buy her way out of her mess.
“During the intervention,” the release said, “Brencola offered one of them money to let her go from the scene before police responded.”
Judge Patrick Duffy sentenced Brencola to six years, “based on her plea,” the release said. “The driving while under the influence charge carries a maximum sentence of three years, which is doubled due to her prior conviction for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, a ‘strike’ under California’s Three Strikes sentencing law.”
Back in 2018, Brencola was driving on Foothill Boulevard in SLO late at night when she struck and killed Cal Poly student Kennedy Love, who was riding a bicycle at the time.
She successfully fled the scene of that crime, but was soon arrested and eventually convicted of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death, and sentenced to seven years in State Prison.
However, thanks to her participating in a “community re-entry program” while in prison, the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released her in December 2019, after serving just over a year in prison.
And now, “Less than two years after her early release,” the news release said, “she committed this dangerous crime.”
D.A. Dow was none too happy about this sad case. “Driving drunk again, “ he said, “after already serving a prison term for killing someone while driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, is without excuse. Our criminal and victim justice system cannot force rehabilitation because each person must make their own decision to take advantage of the resources that have been provided.
“We plead with Ms. Brencola to stop her dangerous behavior and to take responsibility for her future by making the necessary choices to change.”
The most recent case was investigated by the Morro Bay Police Department and prosecuted by Deputy D.A. Lindsey Bittner. The previous manslaughter case was handled by the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
