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Portola Valley resident and 2007 Woodside High School graduate Keith Knudsen received a sentence of four years and eight months in state prison on Tuesday (May 26) after pleading no contest to felony charges of manslaughter and theft, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Knudsen’s manslaughter charge stemmed from a June 12, 2008, incident when, prosecutors said, Mr. Knudsen drove a BMW off Portola Road near the Village Square shopping center and into some trees, killing the only passenger, Robert Lewis Wetzel, 19, of Redwood City, a friend and fellow 2007 Woodside High graduate.
Mr. Knudsen had been driving at speeds above 80 mph with twice the legal blood-alcohol level and lost control of the vehicle, prosecutors said. The car was found broken into several pieces.
The theft charge referred to a November 2007 incident in which Mr. Knudsen and three friends robbed an elderly man of over $300 in a Redwood City doughnut shop, prosecutors said. They had asked the man for a dollar, which he was about to give them, but they then grabbed bills from the man’s hand and ran out of the shop.
Judge Clifford Cretan of San Mateo County Superior Court gave Mr. Knudsen, 20, a credit of 519 days, which includes time he’s already served in county jail, plus fines totaling $250 and a requirement to provide a DNA sample, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe in a report.
His plea agreement specified a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in prison, which prosecutors sought and which Judge Cretan denied, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
The judge also denied the defense, which argued for probation or four years in prison, the minimum in the plea agreement. Mr. Wetzel’s family had written to the judge forgiving Mr. Knudsen and asking that his sentence include no time in prison and no fines, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
Mr. Knudsen’s defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
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