After arguments from her attorney and pleas from the parents of two crash victims, a 19-year-old Redlands woman was granted $300,000 bail on charges she killed three people driving under the influence on July 3 in Castaic.
Taylor Shani Roberson was previously being held without bail at the Century Regional Detention Facility, a jail for women in Lynwood.
Online records indicate Judge Robert DuFour Sanchez granted the bail during a continuance of a hearing Tuesday.
She’s accused of being drunk in the crash that killed her three passengers — Brian Jeffrey White, 22, of Castaic, as well as Nylah Blanchard, 16, and Quinnel “Q” Anthony Trav Shelton, 15, who were from San Bernardino County.
California Highway Patrol officials said the passengers were not wearing their seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle after the car struck a light pole and then a tree. Roberson managed to extricate herself from the 2010 Toyota Camry she was driving before the car caught fire, according to CHP officials.
Counsel for Roberson argued last week in a San Fernando courtroom that it was unconstitutional for the court to deny Roberson bail unless certain conditions are met, based on a 2021 California Supreme Court ruling.
The attorney also argued the ruling means the court can look past the allegation and assign release conditions such as electronic monitoring or substance-abuse treatment.
“These alternatives would be more beneficial to Ms. Roberson to begin fundamentally addressing the true root cause of the problem today, if any,” according to the motion by her attorneys.
The attorney also included two sworn declarations on behalf of the victims seeking bail for Roberson: one from the parents of Blanchard, which identifies the victim as the defendant’s younger cousin; and one from the parents of Shelton, which states the parents knew how close their son and the defendant were and that her release is what their son would have wanted.
The statements were shipped overnight Monday to the courthouse ahead of the hearing, according to records obtained by The Signal.
Roberson is scheduled to be back in court Wednesday for “arraignment and plea,” according to L.A. County Superior Court records available online.
Roberson’s charges include: three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated; two counts of willful cruelty to child possible injury/death; driving under the influence of alcohol and causing bodily injury; and driving under the influence and causing an injury crash while intoxicated with a special allegation of having more than one victim.
