Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 09/26/03

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

Road Rage Defendant Sentenced to State Prison

Christopher Cairati was sentenced to the maximum prison term of eleven years by Superior Court Judge Robert P. Dale for his part in a road rage incident that took place on February 19, 2003. Cairati claimed that the victim, Kenneth Hanson, cut him off while making a turn in the Larkfield area of Sonoma County. He followed Hanson to the intersection of Fulton and River Roads, confronted him and punched him in the head. Cairati then returned to his own vehicle, which was parked behind Hanson’s pick up truck. Hanson then backed his vehicle into the defendant’s automobile.

Cairati jumped into the bed of the victim’s truck, grabbed a shovel that was there and broke out the back window to the truck. Hanson then drove off with Cairati in the back of the truck. He drove in a manner that appeared to be an effort to throw Cairati from the truck. Witnesses stated that the shovel the defendant was wielding went through the truck’s back window just as the truck crossed into the oncoming lane on Fulton Road. Hanson’s southbound vehicle struck a northbound car with two female occupants. A pathologist testified at the preliminary hearing that a laceration to the back of Mr. Hanson’s head was consistent with a wound caused by a shovel.

The victim’s mother, brother, and sisters attended yesterday’s sentencing. Deputy District Attorney Jill Ravitch represented the People. Deputy Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi represented the defendant.