Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer avoids jail for vehicular manslaughter charge

Former Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer accepted a plea deal to avoid jail time for accidentally killing a pedestrian in California last year.

Klinghoffer, 45, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence in an Alhambra courtroom on Wednesday, Rolling Stone reported.

Klinghoffer — who was facing one year behind bars — was sentenced to a year of informal probation and 60 days of community labor for running over and killing 47-year-old Israel Sanchez with his 2022 GMC Yukon on March 18, 2024, in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra.

Sanchez was transported to a local area hospital and declared dead later that day. Officials ruled his cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. 

Los Angeles County Judge Rosa Fregoso also sentenced Klinghoffer to complete a driver safety class and pay restitution to Sanchez’s family, which will be determined at a later date, according to Rolling Stone.

Following Klinghoffer’s plea, a prosecutor warned him of the dangers of distracted driving and said he could be charged with murder if he killed someone again.

Sanchez’s daughter, Ashley Sanchez, was in tears as she read a victim impact statement about how her father was “the heart” of her family.

“My father was an extraordinary grandfather to my [children],” the heartbroken daughter told the court, according to Rolling Stone. “His absence has left an irreversible void in our lives.”

After praising her father as an extraordinary cook and painter with a “unique gift for soothing” the ones he loved with his meals and art, she addressed Klinghoffer directly.

She told the rocker her father’s death was an “avoidable loss that has shaken my family,” and his irresponsible actions have left her and others with “deep and lasting trauma.”

A wrongful death suit filed by Sanchez’s family in July against Klinghoffer alleges the musician was using a cell phone and driving a car with no plates when the accident took place.

The lawsuit also claims that there is video evidence suggesting Klinghoffer “was likely driving while distracted,” was using “a device mere seconds before,” and “made no braking or slowing motion until after he fatally struck” Sanchez.

However, police have determined that Klinghoffer was not using a cell phone at the time of the accident.

Video of the accident, obtained by TMZ, shows the black SUV making a left turn at the intersection of West Main Street and Meridian Avenue and then striking Sanchez.

The driver of the SUV was seen pulling over, walking over to the body, turning around, and quickly walking back to the car.

A judge denied the family’s renewed attempt to seek damages in the lawsuit in January, according to Rolling Stone.

The judge ruled that the claims against the guitarist’s actions were not “willful and conscious disregard” for the safety of others around him when he hit and killed Sanchez.

Klinghoffer has been a staple in the alt-rock world since the late aughts, joining The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a guitarist in 2009 following the departure of his friend, John Frusciante, from the band.

In 2012, Klinghoffer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside the band, which made him the youngest inductee at 32 years old.

During his time with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he recorded two studio albums, I’m with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016).

In 2019, Frusciante returned, and Klinghoffer was let go from the band. 

Klinghoffer has recently toured with Pearl Jam as a supplemental musician and contributed to the group’s most recent album, “Dark Matter.”

He also releases his own music under the pseudonym Pluralone.