Mary Fong Lau, 80, pleaded no contest to four felony counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of a family of four in San Francisco on February 13, 2026, when she entered the plea and waived her right to a trial.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge, Bruce Chan, said in February he intends to sentence her to probation without jail time, according to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Just after 12 p.m. on March 16, 2024, Apple executive Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40, and his wife, Matilde Ramos Pinto, 38, were waiting at a bus stop near Ulloa Street and Lenox Way in the city’s West Portal neighborhood with their 2-month-old and 20-month-old sons on their way to the San Francisco Zoo to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
The 2014 Mercedes SUV driven on the wrong side of the road by Mary, then 78, careened onto the sidewalk and into the bus stop at 70 mph, the San Francisco Police Department said in a release on March 18, 2024.
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De Oliveira and the couple’s 20-month-old son were declared dead at the scene as Pinto, a producer at Ridley Scott Associates, was rushed to a local hospital where she died that same day, their 2-month-old son dying four days later after being treated in the ICU.
Lau was arrested and charged with three counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, felony reckless driving causing bodily injury, and additional traffic violations.
Initially, Lau pleaded not guilty but on February 13, 2026, she entered a plea of no contest to four felony counts of vehicular manslaughter, waiving her right to a trial, and leaving the judge to decide her sentence.
Judge Chan said he intended to sentence Lau to probation without jail time, Lau “is going to spend the rest of her days living with the knowledge of the harm she has caused to others."
Lau’s attorney, Jim Geller, said that she was bringing lunch to her brother when “her car just took off."
The victims’ family expressed outrage.
“The evidence in this case showed gross negligence. No defense was presented in court. And you expect a sentence to be proportional to the gravity of the consequences of the crime. Regardless of the person's age. And you always hope that everyone is held equally accountable under the law.” Pinto’s brother, Luis Ramos Pinto, said.
More than 13,000 people signed an online petition urging the judge to sentence Lau to prison.
The family wrote that they are 'heartbroken and deeply troubled' by the judge’s decision to accept Lau’s no contest felony pleas 'over the objection of the San Francisco District Attorney' and to indicate a likely sentence of just two years of probation.
'We believe the Court should not have accepted a no contest plea in a case involving the loss of four lives, including two babies. A no contest plea avoids a direct admission of guilt and allows the defendant to resolve the case without personally acknowledging responsibility in open court,' the family wrote.
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