Trial to begin in death of 14-year-old Danny Oates

The man accused of killing 14-year-old Danny Oates is expected to begin trial Friday — more than two years after the incident.

Jeffrey Woods will go in front of a jury at 8:30 a.m. in Room C-41 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Woods is accused of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs with injury. Woods pleaded not guilty to both charges and is out on $100,000 bail.

Danny died Aug. 29, 2007, after being hit by a truck police say was driven by Woods at Indianapolis Avenue and Everglades Lane. Prosecutors say Woods was speeding, driving under the influence of Vicodin and Xanax, and texting at the time of the collision.

The constant delays to the trial “kills” the Oates family, father Paul Oates has said.

The family wants the trial to start so it can finish healing.

“There is a part of me that’s hoping that he will plead guilty and let us all be done with this,” Kristi Oates, Danny’s mother, has said.

— Britney Barnes