Silva trial date set for August 21

Windsor man pleads not guilty to all charges stemming
from fatal crash
By PETE MORTENSEN, News Editor
Arnold Silva spoke clearly to Judge Raima Ballinger Tuesday
morning as he entered his final plea.
&#8220Not guilty,” he said softly.
A jury will decide the veracity of that statement as soon as
August, as Ballinger and attorneys for the prosecution and defense
agreed to set a trial the 21st of that month at 9:30 a.m., leaving
several days to complete the trial.
Windsor resident Silva is charged with an array of offenses
including vehicular murder based on his alleged involvement in a
fatal crash Jan. 9 in southern Windsor. That night, a blue
Chevrolet Suburban, identified by multiple witnesses at a
preliminary hearing as belonging to Silva, veered sharply from the
left northbound lane of Highway 101 into the right, smashing into
the Ford Escort of Marian Tumbaga of Windsor. Tumbaga was killed in
the crash, and the other driver fled the scene.
At the preliminary hearing earlier this month, witnesses
described Silva as too drunk to drive and said they had attempted
to prevent him from ever getting on the road that night.
His defense has been costly to Silva. At a court appearance last
week, his attorney Monte Hansen informed Ballinger that Silva could
no longer afford his services and requested his firm be appointed
to serve as his public defenders. After receiving evidence of
financial need, Ballinger granted the request to Roy Miller, a
member of Hansen’s firm.
The only activity in the case prior to the proposed trial date
will be in May. Miller declared he would be filing a 995, or motion
to dismiss. That motion will be filed by the end of the business
day May 5 and then considered by Judge Cerena Wong, Sonoma County’s
Supervising Criminal Court Judge at 2:30 p.m. on May 31.