Trucker charged with six counts of vehicular manslaughter appears in court

Law enforcement personnel examine a vehicle involved in a fiery crash on Interstate 5 that killed six people. Photo courtesy of Rick McClure
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A pretrial date has been set for a career trucker accused of killing two women and four young children after his big rig hit a minivan two and a half years ago.

Richard Lopez, now 72, is charged with six counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.

In March, after a two-month trial in San Fernando, the case ended with a hung jury and mistrial was declared.

Lopez appeared in San Fernando Superior Court Thursday and was ordered to appear back in court on July 18.

Lopez is accused of having struck a minivan with his Freightliner truck at 3:37 a.m. on June 28, 2016, in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, just south of Gorman School Road.

The two women who died inside the burning 2016 Toyota Sienna minivan were Connie Wu Li and Flora Kuang, both 33. The children killed in the same vehicle were Jayden Li, 5; Lucas Li, 3; Sky Ng, 4; and Venus Ng, 2.

In late April, the judge presiding over his first manslaughter trial turned down a request by Lopez’ lawyer to have the case dismissed.

The judge in this case is Sherilyn Garnett, presiding over Courtroom A at San Fernando Superior Court.  Deputy District Attorney Jamie Castro was the prosecutor.

In the first trial, jurors voted 8-4 not guilty.

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661-287-5527

On Twitter @jamesarthurholt

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