HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man charged in a fatal hit-and-run of a 2-year-old girl in June 2023 was released from prison.
Terry Sabnat has been held at the Department of Corrections on a $25,000 cash bail since being charged with vehicular homicide stemming from a fatal hit-and-run that resulted in the death of a 2-year-old girl at an apartment complex in Upper Tumon in June 2023.
Sabnat appeared in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday on a motion to be released filed by his attorney Ana Gayle, the managing attorney of the Alternate Public Defender.
Gayle said at the hearing that she was requesting Sabnat be released either on a personal recognizance bond or with electronic monitoring.
Grant Olan, from the Office of the Attorney General, in response, told Magistrate Judge Benjamin Sison the prosecution opposed but requested electronic monitoring along with house arrest if Sabnat were to be released because of the “very serious offenses.”
Olan, however, also highlighted that Sabnat was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, which makes Sabnat, according to Olan, a flight risk.
Sison in considering Sabnat’s lack of criminal history and eligibility for electronic monitoring, decided to release Sabnat on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond. Sabnat was also ordered to report to probation, not to contact the victim’s family or consume any alcohol or drugs.
Crash
Sabnat was arrested and charged in June 2023 after officers with the Guam Police Department responded to an auto-pedestrian accident with serious injuries at the Family Apartments complex in Upper Tumon.
Children who were playing in the parking lot of the complex told police a 2-year-old girl ran out in front of a Mitsubishi Outlander, which struck her. The children explained they checked on the girl, who was lying face-down and not moving, according to court documents.
After the collision, Sabnat, the driver of the Outlander, exited the vehicle and “picked up the victim and asked people at (the) apartment if the victim was their child.”
Sabnat, while carrying the victim, was observed going around to different people and apologizing before giving the child to her mother.
According to the charging documents, Sabnat then left the scene, despite a man attempting to stop him.
Upon being transported to the hospital, the 2-year-old was pronounced dead that evening after succumbing to injuries that included bleeding to the brain, internal bleeding, collapsed lungs and bruising to her left leg.
Once located, Sabnat told officers he drove the vehicle without a license to the apartment complex to meet a friend.
“When he began to exit the area, he felt something being struck by his car. He then stopped his car and noted that there were children running toward the rear of his vehicle. He stepped out of his vehicle and observed the child, the victim, laying on the ground,” the magistrate’s complaint stated.
According to Post files, Peter Santos from the Alternate Public Defender said in a September 2023 hearing that Sabnat was likely to go to trial because the case was “highly defensible,” and Santos would not be “entertaining any offers.”
Terry Sabnat
