OAKLAND — It was just hours after watching renowned comedians at the Concord Pavilion that Maury Butler crashed a white Lexus on Interstate 880, killing a 19-year-old man who was days away from heading off to college.
Now, nearly eight years after the crash, Butler has been sentenced to time he already served in jail. The 64-year-old Berkeley resident and onetime grocery store manager pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and on July 8 he was officially sentenced 10 years, with good behavior that gives him credit for having served the full amount, court records show.
Butler was originally charged with murder, because he was on probation for a drunk driving charge at the time, according to prosecutors.
Around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 12, 2018, Butler was driving a white Lexus northbound on Interstate 880, when he collided with a vehicle that had been involved in a less serious accident and stopped on the freeway. One of the occupants, 19-year-old Jesaun Benson-Garrett, of Antioch, was struck and killed while checking on the well-being of the people in the other car, according to a GoFundMe in his his memory.
Benson-Garrett’s mother told this news organization that he was days away from leaving the Bay Area to attend college in Ohio. The online fundraisers says he “loved life and lived it to the fullest.”
“Jesaun was very good in math, very, very good with math, algebra and computers,” Benson Abbitt recalled. “He was a great dancer, too. That’s what many people don’t know about him. He’d always dance around the house, being silly.”
After the wreck, Butler stayed by his car. To police, he appeared “nervous, shooken (sic) up and emotional,” California Highway Patrol Officer Carlos Rios testified at Butler’s preliminary hearing. He went on to fail a field sobriety test, Rios said.
Butler told Rios he’d been at the Concord Pavilion, where he’d attended a stop in the Comedy Get Down Tour, featuring Cedric The Entertainer, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley and George Lopez. Eventually he admitted to having beer there and said he was driving home in his neighbor’s car, according to court records.
In court records, Rios’ lawyer said he was “remorseful” and that the other vehicles didn’t have headlights on, shifting blame for the crash. Prosecutors say the woman who was driving Benson-Garrett had her hazard lights on, that Butler was speeding, and that an eyewitness driving near Butler noticed the crash and slowed down.
Butler’s lawyer, in a failed motion for bail, also says he was known for hard work and helping those in need. He’s been a youth basketball coach, assisted a neighbor with multiple sclerosis, and brought medicine and groceries to an elderly woman who couldn’t leave her home, the motion says. At the grocery chain where he worked, “his costumers (sic) loved him and routinely sent complementary letters to his manager on his behalf.”