A prosecutor is seeking $1.1 million in restitution from a Southern California resident convicted of running over an 11-year-old boy with his boat in Shaver Lake.
Roger Guzman, 38, was sentenced in April to two years in prison for running over Dallen McEntire, who was on a kneeboard being towed by his father during the 2006 Labor Day holiday when he was hit.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Dennis Cooper asked Fresno County Superior Court Judge Wayne Ellison to order the restitution. Ellison said he was reluctant to make the ruling because Guzman was not in the courtroom.
He set a hearing for Oct. 15 -- when Guzman will be present -- and said he will likely grant restitution because the law requires it. The question is the amount. Dallen's care and recovery has added up to the $1.1 million, Cooper said. Dallen's parents have paid around $100,000 of that amount. Insurance has covered the rest.
Scott Baly, the attorney representing Guzman, said he doesn't have a problem reimbursing the parents. "The number relating to out-of-pocket expenses [of Dallen's parents], with the documents I've seen, doesn't seem unreasonable to me," he said in an interview.
But Baly said he has not seen enough proof to justify ordering Guzman to pay an additional $1 million. "I have a lot of questions about a number that big," he said.
Guzman's co-defendant, Thomas Kirby, was earlier ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution. Kirby and Guzman collectively will likely be responsible for the total amount, with Kirby's responsibility capped at $80,000, Baly said.
Kirby was the passenger in the boat driven by Guzman. He pleaded no contest to a felony charge of being an accessory for lying to police about the collision, which left Dallen with a fractured skull, among other injuries.
Ellison reduced Kirby's felony to a misdemeanor at his sentencing because he had no criminal record and was a boat passenger. Besides the restitution, Kirby was sentenced to three years of probation.
Roger Nuttall, who is representing Kirby, wants Ellison to reconsider the restitution amount. That hearing is Nov. 12.
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