Michael Gordon Butler, a Simi Valley resident, has been sentenced to four years in state prison following a fatal 2022 Christmas Day crash. Butler, born September 4, 1984, pleaded guilty on April 24, 2025, to one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced.
According to the official press statement, on the evening of the accident, Butler, driving a Corvette, left a family Christmas gathering with 23-year-old Coldren James Lee Udell Kiblinger as his passenger, neither would return having met a tragic fate down an embankment after Butler lost control of the car due to impaired driving at a high speed, and crashed against trees and the hillside resulting in Kiblinger's death, concerned relatives eventually located the destroyed vehicle using location-tracking applications and promptly contacted authorities.
The investigation by California Highway Patrol officers revealed the crash took place on Santa Susana Pass Road in Simi Valley. The Corvette driven by Butler careened off the road and came to rest 200 feet down an embankment. The investigation led to the determination of Butler's intoxicated state and excessive speed as causal factors in the event. Deputy District Attorney Jillian Ewan, attached to the DUI Unit, prosecuted the case, emphasizing the preventable nature of the tragedy.
