CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) - A woman who ran over and killed a motorcyclist during a road rage incident in 2015 was sentenced Friday.
Darla Renee Jackson, 27, was sentenced to six years in prison for the death of Zachary Buob. Jackson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in January. She changed her plea after the charge of second-degree manslaughter was reduced.
Jackson fatally struck Buob, a 39-year-old U.S. Navy chief petty officer in special operations, after police say she chased him from northbound Interstate 5 in Chula Vista to eastbound State route 54 on May 28, 2015.
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For unknown reasons, Jackson and Buob reportedly had a back-and-forth altercation that escalated to the point of Jackson striking the motorcyclist with her Nissan Altima.
Jackson apologized during the hearing, "Not a day goes by that I don’t relive and regret what happened. I pray that you will forgive me."
The judge of a 2015 preliminary hearing said Jackson was "clearly ... targeting Mr. Buob."
But Jackson's defense attorney, Stephen Cline, has argued his client had no intent to kill Buob and that the entire road rage incident happened in a "minute or two."
Buob reportedly passed Jackson on northbound Interstate 5 near E Street in Chula Vista, then slowed in front of her. Jackson told investigators that Buob then got on the right side of her vehicle, kicked her car, flipped her off, then sped away onto Sr-54, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Brad Clinkscales.
Jackson said she pursued Buob to exchange insurance information and "wasn't going to let him do that," Clinkscales testified.
Jackson told investigators that as traffic came to a slow and she was not able to stop her vehicle in time behind Buob to avoid him. Her vehicle then struck and ran over him.
Buob was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
