A Death In Thousand Oaks

A criminal conviction that involved the death of an attorney’s companion involved moral turpitude and merits disbarment according to a recommendation of the California State Bar Court Review Department.

A night of drinking

First Location—Los Agaves Restaurant (Westlake, California)
At around 5:00 p.m., on March 16, 2019, Loomis drove his father’s Porsche 911 Carrera to meet his sister and her family for dinner at a Los Agaves Restaurant in Westlake. While at Los Agaves, Loomis drank at least two margaritas and ate tacos with chips and salsa. About an hour later, at 5:59 p.m., he texted a friend inviting the friend to join him for a beer. When Loomis did not receive an immediate response, he texted Gannon and invited her to join him for the evening. During their text exchange at around 6:11 p.m., Loomis mentioned he was already “two drinks in” and suggested Gannon meet him at Ladyface Ale Companie in 30 minutes. The gist of their text messaging indicated they were meeting for the purpose of having drinks.

Second Location—Ladyface Ale Companie (Agoura Hills, California)
Gannon agreed to meet Loomis at Ladyface Ale Companie (Ladyface). Loomis drove from Los Agaves to Ladyface—a 5.5 miles distance—arriving at approximately 7:10 p.m. While at Ladyface, Gannon and Loomis each drank one pint of beer and shared a macaroni and cheese dish. They left Ladyface together at around 8:00 p.m. Loomis testified that at that point there would have been no reason for him to call rideshare because he was not feeling the effects of the alcohol. He drove Gannon to the next location, Wades Wines, which was approximately 3.3 miles from Ladyface, to continue drinking.

Third Location—Wades Wine (Westlake Village, California Loomis and Gannon arrived at Wades Wine at around 8:15 p.m. Wades Wine is a liquor store with an adjoining tasting room—food is not served there. While at Wades Wine, they each drank at least one glass of wine. Loomis testified that, while he could not recall the events of the night after arriving at Wades Wine, he believed that he and Gannon stayed there for about an hour. He further testified that he had no recollection of where he and Gannon were between 9:15 p.m. and the time of the collision just before midnight.

Fatal Collision in Thousand Oaks, California
At approximately 11:54 p.m., Loomis was driving along a curved segment in a residential neighborhood of Erbes Road in Thousand Oaks, with Gannon riding in the front passenger seat.  The weather that night was clear and dry with normal visibility. There was a posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour on Erbes Road; however, Loomis was driving well in excess of that speed. During the disciplinary trial, Kelvin Rautiola, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office service  technician, testified that when he performed a collision reconstruction analysis, he concluded Loomis was driving at minimum 73 miles per hour. Loomis stipulated that he was speeding. Considering the surrounding facts detailed below, we have sufficient facts to determine Loomis was traveling 73 miles per hour or above.

While driving on Erbes Road, Loomis lost control of the Porsche and hit the raised concrete curb causing the vehicle to travel on the curb for approximately 57 feet before colliding into a large tree. The significant impact caused the right front fender and right-side passenger door to be sheared off the body of the car completely. In fact, the impact was so great that the right front passenger seat and seatbelt retainer were ripped from the floorboard, and the seatbelt cut in half. Gannon was violently ejected into the intersection of Erbes Road and Westland Avenue. The car spiraled down Erbes Road for another 224 feet, hitting other plants, shrubs, trees, and poles, leaving debris from parts of the car in the street along the way. Once the car finally stopped along the curb, the detached passenger seat was found in the street just ahead of the vehicle. Given the extensive damage, investigators were unable to complete a full inspection
of the Porsche’s mechanical systems. Gannon suffered multiple injuries; she was lying unconscious in the road when a witness called 9-1-1. Gannon was transported by ambulance to Los Robles Hospital where she later was pronounced dead from her injuries at 1:23 a.m. on March 17, 2019. Loomis was extracted from the car and transported by ambulance to Los Robles Hospital. Upon testing by law enforcement at 1:36 a.m. on March 17, 2019, Loomis had a BAC of 0.186 percent.

Proposed sanction

the facts and circumstances surrounding Loomis’s felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated conviction involved moral turpitude, thus establishing that Loomis’s offense meets the criteria for summary disbarment under Business and Professions Code section 6102, subdivision (c)(2) and “the attorney is not entitled to a State Bar Court hearing to determine whether lesser discipline is called for.” (See In re Paguirigan (2001) 25 Cal. 4th 1, 7 [discussing general application of section 6102(c) as summary disbarment statute].)

Disbarment is mandatory.

The Acorn reported on Respondent’s release from custody

Word of Loomis’ release did not sit well with family and friends of Gannon, a single mother from Hawaii who came to the mainland in 2010 to pursue a better life for her son.

At the time of her death, she was working as a supervisory officer for UBS financial services in Beverly Hills.

“(Victims Services) sent me a letter saying that his tentative release date is June 11 or 12, but there wasn’t much information about what we could do about that,” said Virginia Gannon, Amanda’s mother.

“We’re very disappointed . . . in the system.”

According to the terms of his release, Loomis faces two years of parole. However, in a letter to the Gannons supplied to the Acorn, the Department of Corrections said his case will be reviewed in a year and Loomis could be discharged if he doesn’t violate parole or get in trouble.

After learning of the early release, the Gannons spent hours on the phone with the state to see if they could register their feelings on the matter.

Amanda’s father, Robert Gannon, said he would get passed from person to person, department to department.

“I never got to an end person. That’s just how it is . . . but he was sentenced to 48 months and the judge said he had to serve 80% of that.

(Mike Frisch)