By PERCY EDNALINO
The Bakersfield Californian
A Bakersfield man was sentenced on Friday to three years probation and a
day in jail on drunken driving and felony evading charges, less than two
months after his acquittal on second-degree murder and child abuse charges.
Joshua Dean Peters, 25, was arrested on charges of drunken driving, a
felony charge of reckless evading of a police officer and driving with a
suspended license less than two weeks after he was acquitted of the shaken
baby death of his ex-girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.
Peters was arrested in August 2001 on charges he pushed 2-year-old Alicia
Westbrook into a wall and shook her in the southwest Bakersfield apartment
he shared with the child's mother, Jennifer Westbrook.
In September, Westbrook was allowed to plead guilty to lying to police in
exchange for testifying against Peters.
A jury acquitted Peters of the charges in early October.
Peters' attorney, Kyle Humphrey, said he didn't think that trial
influenced Superior Court Judge Stephen Gildner's sentence Friday. Humphrey
also represented Peters during the shaken baby trial.
He pleaded guilty to the DUI and felony evading charges, which carry a
potential sentence of three years in state prison.
Peters' driver's license will be revoked for six months as part of the
sentence. Gildner also ruled Peters must join a drug and alcohol
rehabilitation program, but Humphrey said Peters began attending a program
prior to the judge's ruling.
"He's willing to deal with the problem and I hope he wins the battle with
the bottle," Humphrey said of his client.
