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El Dorado County man gets life for killing couple in DUI crash

Mountain Democrat Report

Convicted of second-degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, Timothy Neil Clark, 51, of Cool, was sentenced to life in prison Monday by El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Daniel Proud.

Timothy Neil Clark

He took the lives of Roseville husband-and-wife Daniel Sanford, 93, and Shirley Mae Sanford, 85, April 1, 2020, when — driving his Dodge Durango with a blood alcohol level of .24% at speeds nearing 70 mph— he crossed over the double-yellow lines of Highway 49 just north of Coloma and hit the vehicle the Sanfords were traveling in head-on.

Clark was also found to have committed felony insurance fraud, collecting unemployment insurance from the Employment Development Department while he was held at the El Dorado County Jail on DUI murder charges.



Proud handed down the sentence following Clark pleading guilty to charges against him. Clark was charged with the crime of murder due to having two recent DUI convictions, according to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. He had attended a court-ordered alcohol education class, his driver’s license had been suspended for DUI and he drove without a court-mandated interlock ignition device in his vehicle.

Traveling from their Roseville home that afternoon, Daniel Sanford was killed instantly and Shirley Sanford airlifted to Sutter Roseville Hospital where she succumbed to her severe injuries several days later.



Under current law Clark will be eligible for parole in 2045. The EDD fraud extends his minimum parole eligibility date three years.

The case was investigated by the California Highway Patrol, California Highway Patrol Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. Deputy district attorney Michael P. Pizzuti prosecuted the case and is specially assigned to vertically prosecute felony DUI cases and vehicular manslaughter cases under a traffic safety grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, states a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.


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