New trial date set for old manslaughter case

Both prosecutors and Tom’s defense attorney Geoff Carr were ready to go to trial in April, but the trial has been delayed for months after no judges were available to hear the trial this spring and a family medical emergency prevented Carr from going to trial earlier this month, according to prosecutors.

San Mateo County prosecutors said Tom, who had been drinking with a friend at home before leaving for his son’s house, broadsided the Ng family’s Nissan Maxima with his Mercedes-Benz as it made its way across Woodside Road Feb. 19, 2007.

In 2008, Tom was sentenced to seven years in prison and was about halfway through serving his sentence when his conviction was overturned by the state appeals court in 2012. The conviction was restored in 2014 when the state Supreme Court ruled Tom’s rights were not violated when a prosecutor told jurors in his vehicular manslaughter trial that he proved himself guilty by not asking about the welfare of the other car’s occupants.

Hours after the crash, Tom’s alcohol level measured .04 percent. Using scientific rates of alcohol processing, the prosecution contended Tom was actually at 0.98 at the time of the crash. However, jurors acquitted Tom, now 56, of alcohol-related charges.