Repeat DUI offender sentenced to 22 years in prison after hit-and-run

VISTA - A repeat DUI offender who drove drunk and caused a hit-and-run head-on collision near Bonsall last summer that killed the other motorist was sentenced today to 22 years and eight months to life in state prison.

Garrett James Gelrud, 35, pleaded guilty in May to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the death last Aug. 5 of Juan Corza Gonzalez, a 62-year-old rancher from North County.

Gelrud also admitted that he had two prior convictions for driving under the influence, that he was out on bail on a felony offense at the time of the fatal crash and that he left the scene.

In addition, the defendant pleaded guilty to hit-and-run causing injury in a separate case stemming from a crash that occurred on July 1, 2015.

Authorities said Gonzalez was driving on Old Highway 395 near Bonsall about 5:30 a.m. when Gelrud's Chevrolet Suburban crossed the double yellow lines just north of Lilac Road and smashed into the victim's Nissan Versa.

Gelrud fled the scene on foot but was arrested later that morning.

According to evidence introduced at a preliminary hearing in January, Gelrud's blood was drawn nearly four hours after the fatal crash and the result was .06 percent for alcohol, positive for marijuana and above a therapeutic dosage of Valium.

Chelsea Carter of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Crime Lab testified that Gelrud's blood-alcohol level would have been between .11 and 12 percent at the time of the collision. The legal limit is .08 percent.