MEDIA ADVISORY: 2026 Orange County Crime Victims’ Rights Ceremony - Driven to Despair: The Deadly Devastation of Driving Under the Influence

MEDIA ADVISORY
2026 Orange County Crime Victims' Rights Ceremony
Driven to Despair:
The Deadly Devastation of Driving Under the Influence

The 2026 Orange County Crime Victims' Rights Ceremony is an annual gathering to honor victims and listen to survivors tell their stories of overcoming and reshaping their lives - and how the Orange County District Attorney's Office, alongside our law enforcement partners and victim advocates, continues to fight for victims' rights.

2026 Orange County Crime Victims' Rights Ceremony
Driven to Despair:
The Deadly Devastation of Driving Under the Influence

Tuesday March 31, 2026, at 10 a.m.
Orange County Crime Victims Monument
District Attorney's Office Courtyard
300 North Flower Street
Santa Ana, CA 92703

This year's speakers include:

• Anatoly Varfolomeev, father of Anya Varfolomeev, 19, who was killed in a fiery crash on the 405 freeway along with 19-year-old Nikolay Osokin by a driver who was drunk and high and driving more than 100 miles per hour. The driver served less than 3 ½ years of his 10-year state prison sentence for killing two childhood friends.
• California State Senator Bob Archuleta, whose eldest granddaughter, Samantha Robles Haun, was killed by a drunk driver in a wrong-way, head-on collision two days before Christmas in 2024. Senator Archuleta has introduced SB 907 which seeks to strengthen California's DUI laws, including making vehicular manslaughter a violent felony. One of the bill's provisions would ensure convicted DUI drivers serve the full term for each person they kill while driving under the influence is named "Kolya and Anya's Law," in honor of Anya Varfolomeev and Nickolay Osokin. The Orange County District Attorney's Office is co-sponsoring SB 907 with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
• Libby Hoy, wife of Steve Hoy, who was one of three bicyclists hit by a driver driving under the influence of drugs on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach last year. Hoy and his friend, Mike Yip, were critically injured and their friend, Eric Williams, a local pastor, was tragically killed. Williams left behind his wife, Robyn, and their four young children.
• Orange County Deputy District Attorney Justin Sanchez, who was inspired to become a prosecutor after his grandparents were hit head-on by a wrong way repeat drunk driver. His 77-year-old grandmother was killed. His grandfather was critically injured but survived. Sanchez now prosecutes DUI cases.
• California Assemblyman Tom Lackey, a former California Highway Patrol sergeant, who has introduced AB 1685, AB 1686, AB 1687 to strengthen penalties for DUI drivers and keep high-risk repeat offenders off the road longer.
• Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Doug Chaffee
• Patricia Wenskunas, Founder/CEO of Crime Survivors, Inc.
• Lita Mercado, Waymakers
• Fullerton Police Chief Jon Radus, Incoming President of the Orange County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff's Association
• Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer

Orange Police Department Officer Lavance Reed will perform the National Anthem, and the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs Pipes & Drums Band will perform Amazing Grace.

Any person who may protest the Crime Victims' Rally in person will be directed to a designated public space where true expression is welcome.

Members of the media, please RSVP your attendance to Orange County District Attorney Director of Public Affairs Kimberly Edds at [email protected]

Media interviews can be arranged immediately following the ceremony.

The ceremony will be livestreamed on the Orange County District Attorney's Facebook and Instagram.

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