Robert Cameron Owens was sentenced to 22 years in state prison Tuesday, Oct. 13, for killing Stephen Smith with a vehicle during an early-morning argument on a Carlsbad street.
A Vista Superior Court jury convicted Owens, 43, of voluntary manslaughter, first reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Jurors acquitted him of murder but found he had a prior strike conviction. Under California's Three Strikes law, the prior conviction doubled his sentence.
The case stemmed from a confrontation around 3:30 a.m. on June 28, 2024, on Rue Des Chateaux in Carlsbad.
A prosecution trial brief outlined the events leading to Smith's death. Owens and his fiancée met Smith and two other men at a bar. After a night of drinking, the group drove to the beach, where Owens and Smith "tested each other" by swimming in the ocean, prosecutors wrote. That led to an argument.
When they returned to Owens' vehicle, Owens continued shouting at Smith, who was standing in the middle of the street, according to the brief. Smith said "something to the effect of 'You're not gonna do (expletive),'" at which point Owens accelerated and struck Smith, sending him into a boulder, prosecutors wrote.
A witness heard Owens say, "Get up. Get up. I didn't even hit you that hard …" the brief states.
Owens drove off.
The Carlsbad Police Department said officers responded to a report of an altercation in the 2300 block of Rue Des Chateaux at 3:26 a.m. A caller told dispatchers that one of the individuals involved had been struck by a vehicle. Officers found an adult male injured near the roadway. Officers and the Oceanside Fire Department performed life-saving measures, but Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers located the suspect's vehicle leaving the area at about 3:32 a.m. and conducted a traffic stop after the vehicle exited at Poinsettia Lane. The vehicle stopped in the 700 block of Raintree Drive, and all occupants were detained.
After his arrest, Owens told investigators that Smith pulled out a knife and threatened to kill him, according to the prosecution brief. Owens admitted it was possible he "bumped" Smith but denied hitting him on purpose.
Owens, an Escondido resident who was 41 at the time of his arrest, was initially booked at the Vista Detention Facility on a murder charge. The jury's voluntary manslaughter conviction carried a lighter base sentence, but the prior strike finding doubled the prison term to 22 years.
