A man with a prior conviction for drunk driving was ordered on May 16 to stand trial for second-degree murder in the death of a woman who was killed in the Crown Point area when his car crashed into her.

Nestor Alejandro Hernandez, 23, was also ordered to stand trial for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the death of Vanessa Urbina-Aragonez, 22, who was attending Mesa Community College and was studying to be a nurse.

Attorneys submitted the case without arguments to San Diego Superior Court Judge Marian Gaston at the end of the all-day preliminary hearing.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail without bail. He also is charged with DUI, and driving with a measurable blood/alcohol level with injury to the woman’s boyfriend, Brian Armenta Zamarano, 24.

Hernandez was driving his Toyota Tacoma on Jan. 22 in the 3400 block of Riviera Drive of Pacific Beach when he allegedly failed to negotiate a curve in the road and struck Urbina who was standing in front of a disabled Chevrolet Tahoe at a curb.

Acting Detective Taylor Walker testified the approximate speed of Hernandez’s vehicle was 72 mph before the crash, according to the car’s event data recorder.

Walker said Hernandez did not have enough time to react to slow down before he could see the disabled vehicle. The officer said he was driving too fast.

Detective Brian Carrington testified Hernandez had three whiskey drinks at a Pacific Beach bar before leaving at 12:42 a.m. with his cousins.

District Attorney investigator Chad Stevens said Hernandez’s blood/alcohol was .16, which is twice the level for drunk driving, according to his interview with a lab worker who tested Hernandez’s blood sample after his arrest.

Stevens said that level of blood/alcohol can slow reaction time and impair driving significantly. He testified he interviewed people who cautioned Hernandez three times in his 2021 drunk driving case that if he killed someone while drinking, he could be charged with murder.

Armenta had planned to testify in the hearing, but he is back in the hospital with back pain, said Stevens. He has kidney stones and had more surgery. He uses a wheelchair and has not been able to return to work, said Stevens.

Hernandez will next appear in court on May 31 to get a trial date set. A jury will decide whether Hernandez is guilty of murder, vehicular manslaughter, both or neither.