Mary Fong Lau, second from left, stands with friends before a hearing in the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on Friday. Lau faces felony vehicular manslaughter charges in an accident that killed a family of four in March 2024.

The car crash that killed a family in West Portal two years ago is a tragedy from any angle. The family, Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto and their two infants, had recently settled in San Francisco. They were struck when a car going the wrong way at a high speed slammed into a bus shelter. The 80-year-old driver, Mary Fong Lau, had no criminal record and, by all the evidence, was not under the influence and didn’t act intentionally. A tragedy all the way around.

But when San Francisco Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan stated his intention to sentence Lau to probation without jail time, there was widespread outrage in the community. The outrage is centered first on the fact that Lau was permitted to plead “no contest” instead of guilty to four felony vehicular homicide counts, and second on the claim that Lau moved assets from her own name in an effort to put them beyond the reach of a civil lawsuit filed by the victims’ family.

Related: Why is the driver in fatal West Portal crash likely to avoid jail? Experts weigh in as outrage erupts

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No contest pleas have the same effect as guilty pleas in criminal cases, but unlike guilty pleas, they are not admissions of........

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