Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer has avoided jail time with a plea deal in his vehicular manslaughter case. He pleaded no contest to the charge in California on Wednesday and was sentenced to one year of informal probation and 60 days of community labor, Rolling Stone reports. Prosecutors said Klinghoffer was driving an SUV in Alhambra in March last year when he hit and fatally injured 47-year-old Israel Sanchez at a crosswalk while making a left turn. In a victim impact statement, his daughter Ashley Sanchez said that he had been an "extraordinary grandfather" to her children and that his death has "left an irreversible void in our lives."
Klinghoffer was also ordered to complete a driver safety class and pay restitution, which will be determined at a later date. "If you continue to drive while distracted, and as a result of your driving someone is killed, you can be charged with murder," a prosecutor told Klinghoffer after he entered his plea. Sanchez's family filed a wrongful death suit against Klinghoffer last year, People reports. It states that he was "likely driving while distracted" and that he was allegedly "using a device mere seconds" before hitting Sanchez. Klinghoffer was a Red Hot Chili Peppers member from 2009 to 2019 and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2012. In recent years, he has played with bands including Pearl Jam and Jane's Addiction. (More Red Hot Chili Peppers stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
