By Khalida Sarwari
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge held a man for trial today for his role in a DUI crash in which a 4-year-old Gilroy boy was killed last year.
James Francis Lee, 44, of Gilroy, is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI in connection with the death of Jose Cortez on U.S. Highway 101 in unincorporated San Jose on July 11, 2010.
On that day, Cortez had pulled his Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck onto the right shoulder of the highway after his car became disabled.
He got out of the truck and called his brother-in law, and because it was a hot day, his wife and daughter decided to exit the vehicle as well.
Jose was sleeping in the back of the truck’s cab when a 1989 Ford F-250 truck swerved from the far right southbound lane onto the shoulder and struck the Chevy from behind.
Jose suffered major head injuries and was pronounced dead later that night at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
California Highway Patrol officers arrested Lee, the driver of the Ford, after determining his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
Lee is scheduled for an arraignment on April 18.