20-year-old sentenced for fatal high speed crash in downtown Chico

BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. — A 20-year-old Chico man was sentenced in the Butte County Superior Court on Wednesday for a crash that killed a 26-year-old in downtown Chico in 2021, as well as beating a man in jail, according to the Butte County District Attorney's Office.

Pesiaune Finau was previously convicted for vehicular manslaughter and battery with serious bodily injury.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey says the vehicular manslaughter case stems from the crash that happened near 8th Street and Main Street in downtown Chico on Sept. 26, 2021.

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Finau was reportedly driving an SUV at more than double the 35 mph speed limit, and ran a red light before striking 26-year-old Hunter Dixon on his motorcycle, then crashing into the building at 120 W 8th St.

Dixon was pronounced dead at the hospital. The building had major structural damage and had to be braced for safety by the Chico Fire Department, according to the district attorney's office.

At the time of the crash, Ramsey says Finau also did not have a license and recently was ticketed for it.

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While in the Butte County Jail awaiting trial for the vehicular manslaughter case, the district attorney's office says Finau beat a fellow inmate. He was then charged with battery with serious bodily injury.

Finau previously faced six years in prison, but was sentenced to three years on Wednesday. Ramsey says the judge was limited to a lower term prison sentence because of a recent change in the state's law, mandating lower term sentencing for offenders under age 26.

The judge ordered Finau to be responsible for restitution for Dixon's burial expenses, as well as the estimated $50,000 in repairs to the damaged building.