A street racer was convicted of vehicular manslaughter on Tuesday, Feb. 4, for his role in the 2020 Santa Ana traffic death of an Orange County Register editor.

An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for two and a half hours before finding Ricardo Tolento, now 29, guilty of felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit and run with permanent injury or death, along with a misdemeanor count of engaging in a speed contest and a sentencing enhancement for fleeing the scene, related to the July 30, 2020 death of Gene Harbrecht.

The driver Tolento was charged with racing — Louie Robert Villa — was previously convicted in an earlier trial and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Villa, who was driving a BMW, actually crashed into Harbrecht’s pickup. But prosecutors argued that Tolento, who was driving an Infiniti, helped set the deadly events in motion.

Villa — who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fatal crash and had a previous DUI — was convicted of a more serious count of second-degree murder.

Attorneys during closing arguments inTolento’s trial on Tuesday morning in a Santa Ana courtroom told jurors that the trial really came down to whether or not they believed that Tolento had taken part in a street race.

Jurors were repeatedly shown dashboard camera footage captured by a driver who was stopped behind Tolento and Villa at the Bristol and 17th streets intersection. That footage showed the two vehicles rapidly accelerate and pull away from other drivers on northbound Bristol immediately after the light turned green. Less than a half-mile away, Villa broadsided Harbrecht, who was making a left-hand turn from the other side of Bristol onto Santa Clara.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Orue told jurors that Tolento was traveling at an average speed of 77 mph — in a 45 mph zone — on that stretch of Bristol. Tolento was outpacing Villa, the prosecutor said, until Villa “slingshotted” around Tolento and then crashed into Harbrecht.

Tolento, in his own testimony, repeatedly denied racing Villa. Tolento — who according to the video was in a lane to the right of Villa — said he needed to merge over and believed that Villa wasn’t going to let him in. Tolento testified that he accelerated in order to get ahead of Villa and claimed he was already slowing down before Villa abruptly pulled around him and crashed into Harbrecht.

Harbrecht’s pickup was forced off the roadway, onto a sidewalk and into a fence. Bystanders helped pull the Harbrecht from the wreckage. But he died minutes later.

Tolento testified that he stopped a short distance away and called 911. The call didn’t go through, Tolento said, but a dispatcher quickly called him back and then abruptly hung up after confirming they were already aware of the crash. Tolento said he drove off and continued on his errands, taking a Covid test in Irvine and then going to a church and a tire shop.

Several hours later, an officer pulled Tolento over and arrested him. In an exchange captured on the officer’s body camera, Tolento denied that he had been at the scene of the crash, even after he was told there was video of his car.

When asked by the prosecutor why he lied to the officer, Tolento cited a previous hit-and-run he had been convicted of and a modification he had made to the exhaust on his car to make it louder and said he believed authorities were going to try to tie him to a crash he believed he hadn’t been involved in.

“You heard every excuse under the sun,” Orue told jurors. “A man is dead and the inability to take any responsibility is mind blowing …

“You put that (dashboard) video up, you press play and it is pretty obvious what is going on,” the prosecutor added. “They turned Bristol into their own personal race track and a man paid the ultimate price.”

Tolento’s attorney, Tom Nocella, argued that Tolento wasn’t directly involved in the crash and denied that Tolento had fled the scene.

“Mr. Villa, we know, caused the accident,” Nocella told jurors. “Mr. Villa, we know, crashed …

“He (Tolento) did not hit anyone, he did not race,” the defense attorney added. “He did call 911. He did make those efforts.”

Tolento — who had been free on bail during the trial — was handcuffed and taken into custody following the verdict. He faces up to 11 years in prison when he returns to court for sentencing on April 4.

Harbrecht, a veteran newsman, had been with the Register since 1984, and at the time of his death was serving as the national and international editor for the Southern California News Group, which publishes the Register and 10 other local newspapers.

Gene Harbrecht, a longtime Register editor, was a ‘newsman to his core’

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