Murder and other charges were announced Monday in the death of an 18-year-old Loyola High School tennis player who was struck and killed earlier this year by a DUI suspect.
Braun Levi was walking May 4 on Sepulveda Boulevard when he was hit by the driver and later died at a hospital.
Jennifer Levi, his mother, was at a Monday morning news conference when Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced charges of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The charges were filed last week, Hochman said.
“He was taken from us,” Levi said. “The pain we feel is indescribable. Our family has been shattered, ripped apart and left to pick up the pieces.
“We are profoundly changed.”
Charges are announced in the DUI crash that killed 18-year-old Braun Levi. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 11 a.m. on Monday Dec. 29, 2025.
The standout tennis player at the school in LA’s Pico Union area was just weeks from graduating.
Braun was a nationally ranked tennis player who was bound for the University of Virginia. His family had moved to Manhattan Beach after their Pacific Palisades home was destroyed in January’s Palisades Fire.
Jenia Resha Belt, 33, was being held on $2 million bond. Belt, a security guard, is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 13. In addition felony counts, Belt faces one misdemeanor count of driving when privilege suspended or revoked for driving with specified blood alcohol level.
If convicted as charged, Belt faces up to 15 years to life in state prison.