Man pleads not guilty to fatal drunken driving

J. Harry Jones. The San Diego Union – Tribune. San Diego, Calif.: Nov 6, 2001. pg. B.2

A Pacific Beach biochemist pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that he killed a 20-year-old bicyclist by driving onto a sidewalk along Miramar Road while drunk last Wednesday night.

John Hoffman, 54, a director of manufacturing at a San Diego biotechnology firm, is accused of killing David V. Markham, a Marine Corps private first class from Garden City, N.Y.

Prosecutor Allison Worden said Hoffman’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.11 of a percent 14 hours after the accident. It is illegal to drive a car in California with a blood-alcohol level of .08 of a percent or greater.

Bill O’Connell, Hoffman’s attorney, told Judge David Szumowski that Hoffman denies being the driver of the car and that his client has never been in trouble with the law.

Prosecutor Worden said a witness saw Hoffman consume five to seven drinks of Chivas Regal Scotch on the rocks earlier Wednesday evening at a bar.

Later, a friend gave Hoffman a ride to his Pacific Beach home after finding him walking along state Route 52, not far from where his black Volvo had been abandoned and about four miles from where the bicyclist was struck, Worden said.

Police said the car’s windshield was broken and the air bag had been deployed.

The next morning Hoffman called police and reported that his car had been stolen the day before. When officers arrived to take a report they smelled alcohol on Hoffman’s breath and arrested him, Worden said.

Hoffman was ordered held in lieu of $75,000 bail. He is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run driving causing death, driving on a suspended license and making a false police report. He faces more than 12 years in prison if convicted.