Former Stanford student finally loses defamation lawsuit against family of two he killed in car accident

Former Stanford student King Vanga killed Pamela and Joe Juarez in a car accident in 2021. This is an undisputed fact. However, when the Juarez family told the university about the whole “killing two people” thing, Vanga sued for defamation, claiming they couldn’t call him a murderer since he had only been accused of involuntary manslaughter. Than that Stanford Daily Reportshowever, in a real victory for free speech Because of these protections, Vanga lost his lawsuit against Priscilla Juarez late last month.

King Vanga, who killed Pamela and Joe Juarez with his car, initially claimed that a letter sent to Stanford by the Juarez family was defamatory because in it they called him a murderer and claimed that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident and alleged that he violated the Stanford Code of Conduct. Vanga denied all these claims. The court disagreed, stating that the murder and code of conduct allegations were opinions and were considered protected speech under the First Amendment. The court also ruled that Juárez had reason to believe that Vanga was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash because it had been reported on the local news, despite Vanga’s claims to the contrary:

On June 25, 2021, Vanga was involved in a car accident in Atwater, California, where Jose and Pamela Juarez died. Vanga was charged with two counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter while intoxicated, resisting a senior officer, attempting to steal a peace officer’s firearm and battery on a peace officer. Vanga pleaded not guilty to these charges.

According to the police officer who attended the accident, Vanga allegedly refused an on-site alcohol test. Still, the officer claimed that Vanga was under the influence. According to the police report, the officer noticed “a strong odor of alcohol emanating from (Vanga’s) breath and body and noted that his eyes were red.”

According to police reports, media reports that circulated in the following days also stated that Vanga was under the influence of drugs, alcohol or both quoted within the case.

This prompted Priscilla Juarez and several other family members to write emails and letters to Stanford. In her email, she wrote that she hoped the university would “take the appropriate action and expel this man as an active student of (the) morally respected institution.”

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In December 2021, Vanga threatened to sue the Atwater Police Department and the California Highway Patrol for alleged mistreatment and false accusations of driving under the influence. Vanga claimed he was punched twice, kicked and verbally abused by responding officers. Meanwhile, blood samples from the night of the accident showed neither drugs nor alcohol.

Attorney Ken “Popehat” White represented Juarez in the lawsuit and filed an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss on the grounds that the lawsuit violated his client’s First Amendment rights. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation and generally refers to lawsuits filed on questionable grounds with the intent to suppress free speech. Anti-SLAPP laws allow defendants to have these lawsuits dismissed if the motion is granted and also to recover any attorney’s fees.

“There is a trend where rich people think that the poor should only have as much freedom of expression as they can afford. And that’s what this case was about for me, and that’s why I’m glad we have a tool like the anti-SLAPP law,” White said Daily.

Unfortunately for the Juarezes, Vanga also filed defamation suits against other family members, and they still haven’t seen a judge. But while nothing is guaranteed, it seems like White believes there’s a good chance they’ll see similar results, the said Daily, “Every case is a little different because every case is based on what the defendant said in his letter (to Stanford). But I think (Priscilla Juarez’s family members) should be very optimistic because of this outcome.”

As we have already mentioned We first reported on this lawsuitno one forced Vanga to sue the Juarez family. He could have just let the whole thing go and focused on preparing for his likely sentencing. The consequences of killing two people aren’t usually pleasant, but chances are he probably would have remained largely unknown outside the Bay Area. Instead, he had the audacity to sue the family of the people he killed with his car, attracting national media attention. This means many more people know that King Vanga killed Pamela and Joe Juarez with his car in 2021.

It is not clear when King Vanga’s criminal trial will begin, but hopefully it won’t be long. He deserves consequences for his actions, whether or not he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.