{"id":233413,"date":"2026-03-24T01:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233413\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T01:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:24:12","slug":"cardiologist-accepts-plea-after-reedley-nurse-killed-on-highway-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233413\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiologist accepts plea after Reedley nurse killed on Highway 99"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 72-year-old cardiologist from Sonora may serve only one year in jail plus probation for the 2021 crash that killed a 26-year-old nurse from Reedley on Highway 99 .<\/p>\n

Dr. James Comazzi was in Fresno County Superior Court on Monday for what was supposed to be the continuation of his preliminary hearing<\/a>. But instead Comazzi agreed to plead no contest to one count of hit and run resulting in permanent injury or death and vehicular manslaugther without gross negligence.<\/p>\n

Comazzi is accused of hitting and killing Juliana Ramos of Reedley on Feb. 10, 2021<\/a> at about 12:30 a.m. as she was helping the victim of a crash on northbound Highway 99 near the Manning Avenue exit.<\/p>\n

Ramos was in a vehicle with three others travelling north on 99 when they came upon debris in the road from a collision that had just happened.<\/p>\n

The driver pulled over near the center median and Ramos and the driver got out and began rendering emergency care at the scene, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the driver and two other passengers in the car.<\/p>\n

Not far behind, was Comazzi and his wife. He was driving a 2017 Ford Explorer, California license number BSTILLL, heading north on 99 at a high rate of speed, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

It is alleged Comazzi failed to see the cars and pedestrians and stuck them.<\/p>\n

Jeff Hammerschmidt, Comazzi\u2019s lawyer, said after Monday\u2019s hearing that his client remembers hitting a guardrail, but not a person. However, he did stop and get out of his vehicle and he saw Ramos on the ground.<\/p>\n

Comazzi left the scene of the crash before law enforcement arrived. It took investigators eight months to locate him and charge him .<\/p>\n

Hammerschmidt said he and prosecutor Sierra teNyenhuis agreed to resolve the case after Judge Geoffrey Wilson indicated he would likely sentence Comazzi to a maximum of one year in jail plus probation.<\/p>\n

Hammerschmidt said the judge took into consideration Comazzi\u2019s age and his lack of a criminal record when arriving at his possible sentence.<\/p>\n

Had the case gone to trial and Comazzi was found guilty on all charges he could have been sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison.<\/p>\n

Comazzi will return to court for sentencing June 10. Also expected to attend will be friends and family of Ramos.<\/p>\n

\"Cinthia Cinthia Ramos, sister-in-law to Juliana Ramos, speaks to the media Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021 in Fresno after California Highway Patrol Lt. Austin Matulonis announced the arrest of James Leonard Comazzi, 68, a Sonora man, as a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run that killed Juliana Ramos in February. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 72-year-old cardiologist from Sonora may serve only one year in jail plus probation for the 2021 crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,1825,161,105740,105741,105742],"class_list":{"0":"post-233413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news","11":"tag-highway-99","12":"tag-hit-and-run","13":"tag-james-comazzi","14":"tag-reedley-nurse","15":"tag-sonora-cardiologist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}