Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 7/25/03

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Chief Deputy Larry Scoufos Deputy District Attorney: Jill Ravitch

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY IN ROAD RAGE CASE

Christopher Michael Cairati, age 22, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a road rage case which involved the death of Kenneth Hanson on February 19, 2003. Superior Court Judge Robert P. Dale set a sentencing date of September 25, 2003.

The defendant, Mr. Cairati, and the victim were nearly involved in a traffic collision, after which the defendant pursued Mr. Hanson’s pickup truck to the intersection of Fulton and River Road. When the victim, Mr. Hanson, stopped his truck, the defendant got out of his car and went up to the Hanson vehicle. Mr. Cairati then punched Mr. Hanson as he sat in his vehicle. The defendant returned to his car when Mr. Hanson backed his truck into the defendant’s vehicle. As the victim tried to pull away, Mr. Cairati got out and jumped into the back of Mr. Hanson’s pickup truck. The defendant picked up a shovel from the bed of the pickup, and began swinging it at Mr. Hanson’s rear window. At some point during the incident most of the rear window of the truck was shattered.

Although witnesses’ accounts differed slightly, Mr. Hanson was observed to drive southbound on Fulton Road with the defendant in the bed of the pickup truck. One witness stated that the defendant was wielding the shovel just before Mr. Hanson’s truck veered into oncoming traffic and struck a car carrying two women. The women received minor injuries, but Mr. Hanson died at the scene of the collision. The investigation of the case was led by CHP Officer Robert Mota and District Attorney Investigator Roslyn Eliaser.

As a result of the plea Mr. Cairati faces a maximum sentence of eleven years in state prisons. Charges involving the injuries to the women who were involved in the collision with the victim’s vehicle were dismissed, but may be considered by the judge in sentencing on the voluntary manslaughter charge. The District Attorney’s office will ask for the maximum sentence. Deputy District Attorney Jill Ravitch prosecuted the case.