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Closing arguments Thursday in first-degree murder case John Dungan accused of killing woman, her children By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
State Street Master Planner Tess Harris answers questions from Santa Barbara City Council members Tuesday. The council voted to accept the master plan.
State Street plan OK’d Santa Barbara City Council approves document, which covers downtown’s revitalization
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday in the case of a Santa Barbara man accused of deliberately ramming his speeding car into another car headed in the opposite direction. The collision killed a Solvang woman and her two small children. Defendant John Dungan is accused of driving faster than 100 mph on State Route 154 before crashing into a car driven by Rebecca Vanessa Bley, 34, who had her children, 2-yearold Lucienne Bley Gleason and 4-month-old Desmond Bley Gleason, strapped in car seats in the back. California Highway Patrol investigators testified that Mr. Dungan was driving the wrong way on State Route 154 at 119 mph before the crash. Ms. Bley and her children died of blunt force injuries immediately after impact, coroner’s officials testified. Mr. Dungan, 28 at the time of the Oct. 25, 2019 collision, was injured and taken to the hospital. He was subsequently charged with three counts of first-degree murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. Mr. Dungan is being held without bail in the Santa Barbara County Jail.
Both the prosecution and defense have rested their cases, District Attorney Joyce Dudley’s office told the NewsPress, confirming that closing arguments are set to begin Thursday morning at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Barbara. The prosecution will close first, followed by the defense, before the case goes to the jury for deliberation. Neither side is permitted to comment about the case itself, including testimony and evidence presented at trial, because of a gag order issued by Judge Thomas Adams. The force of the collision caused Ms. Bley to be ejected from her car, but her children were trapped in the back seat, investigators said. Their bodies were hard to locate because of dirt and ash stemming from a vehicle fire caused by the collision. Witnesses testified they saw Mr. Dungan speeding before he drove straight into Ms. Bley’s oncoming vehicle. Some of the texts he sent to his parents in the months before the crash “appeared to be suicidal/ homicidal in nature,” a court document said. email: nhartstein@newspress.com
Crews make progress in battling Oak Fire Blaze near Yosemite 26% contained
By MADISON HIRNEISEN THE CENTER SQUARE STAFF REPORTER
At left, a master plan for lower State Street, which became a pedestrian promenade complete with outdoor parklets for businesses, was approved Tuesday by the Santa Barbara City Council. At right, Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez asks Master Planner Tess Harris whether MIG consultants for the State Street plan would be located in Santa Barbara or working remotely. “The project manager is based in their Bay Area office,” Ms. Harris told him, but added MIG staff will be in Santa Barbara often.
By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to accept an updated State Street Master Plan, considered a “visioning document” for the next 30 to 50 years, with an eye toward the downtown’s economic revitalization. The master plan update represents the work of the State Street Advisory Committee, which also asked the council to spend up to $709,000-plus to hire consultant MIG Inc. to work with the city to meet the plan’s goals over the next 16 to 18 months until its expected completion in December 2023.
Councilmembers also directed city staff to return with their suggestions for interim steps to take concerning the current downtown pedestrian promenade and dining parklets, including new construction, the size of outdoor areas and rent for the area. The council’s ad hoc subcommittee is expected to return to the full council in September with its recommendations concerning rules and regulations, rents and parklet portability. The committee will also report on providing more security and lighting downtown, ensuring adequate stormwater drainage and possibly resuming parades
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on lower State Street. The downtown revitalization effort called for in the Master Plan will focus on the State Street area from Anacapa to Chapala streets and State Street from Sola Street to the Highway 101 underpass. Councilmembers and several people speaking in person or virtually spoke highly of the master plan, saying how excited they were to see the process move forward. “This is what we need now, not in the future, but now,” Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said. “It strengthens to me the commitment and direction we need to be going in.” Anytime someone mentions
“going backward” to the way it was pre-COVID, “we hear overwhelming cries from the community to keep going forward but in a carefully planned way with a very structured plan, and that takes money,” she said. “It really is an exciting day for us for a lot of reasons,” Councilmember Meagan Harmon added, praising the hard work put in by the advisory committee to create a “visionary” master plan. “We are not only putting this plan together for right now but also for generations to come. I’m really excited to be voting yes.” There was some dissent, however. One speaker criticized the high consulting fee. Another Please see COUNCIL on A4
Firefighters are making progress in containing the Oak Fire burning near Yosemite, which is currently the largest wildfire of the year thus far in California. The fire, which began Friday, swelled to more than 18,000 acres by Tuesday morning as more than 2,500 personnel continued to battle the blaze. The fire was 26% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire. The fire forced more than 3,700 people to evacuate as of Monday, and thousands more remain without power in the area, according to PG&E. Fire officials do not expect full containment until Saturday, Public Information Officer Jonathan Pierce, who is working with Cal Fire incident management team five, told The Center Square. The blaze led Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in Mariposa County over the weekend and announce that the state had secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. With the grant, the state will receive federal reimbursement of up to 75%, according to Brian
Ferguson, the deputy director for crisis communication and public affairs in the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, The cause of the Oak Fire remains under investigation, according to Mr. Pierce. The Oak Fire underscores an ongoing problem facing the western United States. High temperatures and sustained droughts make wildfires more destructive and harder to contain. The governor and lawmakers have recently emphasized wildfire resilience in the state budget. The state has spent billions in recent years to address wildfire preparedness, including $1.2 billion in this year’s budget for forest and wildfire resilience. The budget states that this includes $530 million to be allocated this summer “pending additional discussions with the Legislature.” This year’s budget also includes $39 billion over five years to address the effects of climate change – spending that the governor and lawmakers plan to funnel toward drought mitigation and clean energy projects. Madison Hirneisen covers California for The Center Square.
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 2-10-24-41-47 Meganumber: 10
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 1-0-4-2
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 5-6-18-33-35
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 12-06-03 Time: 1:49.77
Monday’s POWERBALL: 25-37-38-39-65 Meganumber: 5
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 1-2-2 / Wednesday’s Midday 1-6-2