‘I can’t think of a more egregious DUI’: Life sentence handed down in Concord drunk driving crash
Bo Robledo was sentenced to 22 years to life Friday.
MARTINEZ — A Concord man was sentenced Friday to life without parole eligibility for 22 years, for a drunk driving crash that took the life of a young woman.
Bo Robledo, 34, was convicted last month of murdering 21-year-old Natalie Davies and seriously injuring her boyfriend, in a November 2017 crash on Willow Pass Road. At the sentencing hearing Friday, Judge Rebecca Hardie called the crash “catastrophic,” adding Robledo was drunk at home when he chose to leave the house to acquire more alcohol, leading to the crash.
“It was, frankly, no different than taking a firearm and shooting at a group of people,” Hardie said, adding, “I can’t think of a more egregious DUI…(Davies’) life was cut down when life was really just beginning.”
Robledo’s attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.
Hardie said that Robledo had “some admirable qualities” like maintaining employment throughout his adult life. She added, though, that he seemed able-bodied enough to gain employment in state prison and pay restitution to both victims’ families.
Robledo was convicted after a three-week trial, but jurors took less than a day to find him guilty. Prosecutors presented witnesses who said that Robledo called them the night of the crash, asking one of the witnesses to hang out and drink beers.
Deputy district attorney Derek Butts told jurors during trial Robledo was on his way to get more alcohol when the crash occurred. Robledo swerved out his lane in Willow Pass Road on the outskirts of Concord, striking an oncoming car containing Davies and Zachary Punty, then 26, Davies’ boyfriend.
“I met with both families and the juxtaposition is so striking to me,” Butts said in an interview after the verdict. “Here’s a family that has suffered tremendously. Zach has been through heck and back, but they have their son. And then across the table are the Davieses, and they don’t…It just struck me as do devastating and final.”
Butts said he was not surprised a fatal accident resulted from Robledo’s actions that night, noting the defendant’s two prior DUI convictions, one of which resulted in a crash that nearly killed Robledo years earlier.
“This goes beyond an accident, it goes beyond poor judgment, when you have that experience and history and still go behind the wheel,” Butts said.
Robledo has roughly a year’s worth of credit for time served.