{"id":416753,"date":"2026-07-29T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416753\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:59:07","slug":"berkeley-man-pleads-out-gets-released-from-jail-for-killing-teen-in-dui-crash-after-concord-comedy-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416753\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkeley man pleads out, gets released from jail for killing teen in DUI crash after Concord comedy show"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Butler was originally charged with murder, because he was on probation for a drunk driving charge at the time, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 12, 2018, Butler was driving a white Lexus northbound on Interstate 880<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Benson-Garrett\u2019s 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 \u201cloved life and lived it to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesaun was very good in math, very, very good with math, algebra and computers,\u201d Benson Abbitt recalled. \u201cHe was a great dancer, too. That\u2019s what many people don\u2019t know about him. He\u2019d always dance around the house, being silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the wreck, Butler stayed by his car. To police, he appeared \u201cnervous, shooken (sic) up and emotional,\u201d California Highway Patrol Officer Carlos Rios testified at Butler\u2019s preliminary hearing. He went on to fail a field sobriety test, Rios said.<\/p>\n

Butler told Rios he\u2019d been at the Concord Pavilion, where he\u2019d 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\u2019s car, according to court records.<\/p>\n

In court records, Rios\u2019 lawyer said he was \u201cremorseful\u201d and that the other vehicles didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Butler\u2019s lawyer, in a failed motion for bail, also says he was known for hard work and helping those in need. He\u2019s been a youth basketball coach, assisted a neighbor with multiple sclerosis, and brought medicine and groceries to an elderly woman who couldn\u2019t leave her home, the motion says. At the grocery chain where he worked, \u201chis costumers (sic) loved him and routinely sent complementary letters to his manager on his behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 It was just hours after watching renowned comedians at the Concord Pavilion that Maury Butler crashed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[166714,861,862,166711,166710,166712,166713,121338,166715,143,5159,145,144],"class_list":["post-416753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-880-crash","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california-crime","tag-cedric-the-entertainment","tag-concord-comedy","tag-dl-hughley","tag-eddie-griffin","tag-george-lopez","tag-i-880-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-crash","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416753","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=416753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}