Baker City man pleads guilty in DUII crash that injured six teens

A Baker City DUII case that left six teenage passengers injured moved into sentencing Friday when Izek Matthew Cleveland pleaded guilty to four felony assault counts in Baker County Circuit Court. The plea ends the trial phase in a crash that sent two teens by LifeFlight to Boise and leaves a judge to decide whether Cleveland will face a mandatory prison term.

The crash happened about 1:28 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2024, on 17th Street near Grace Street in southwest Baker City. Police said a 2008 Ford Escape driven by Cleveland failed to make a turn and struck a large tree head-on. There were seven people in the vehicle, including Cleveland, and all six passengers were hurt.

A police report from the case said Cleveland admitted using cocaine and alcohol before driving. The report said his blood alcohol level was 0.12, above Oregon’s legal limit of 0.08. Cleveland was 18 at the time of the wreck and was first jailed on $60,000 bail before posting $6,000 and being released on Christmas Day.

The original charging document accused Cleveland of DUII, five counts of second-degree assault and six counts of recklessly endangering another person. In Oregon, second-degree assault is a Measure 11 offense with a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years and 10 months on conviction. The victims named in the charging document were Brooklyn Jaca, Timothy Sage Darlington, Danaeh Darnell, Kaden Garvin, Sydnee Pierce and Taylor Dalton.

The case also drew repeated pretrial motion work before the guilty plea. Baker County District Attorney Greg Baxter recused himself because of a personal conflict of interest tied to prior conversations with Cleveland, and another prosecutor handled the case. Prosecutors also sought to revoke Cleveland’s conditional release, saying he allegedly drank alcohol and moved out of state without permission while on release.

A judge later revoked Cleveland’s release agreement and ordered him back to the Baker County Jail ahead of his June 22 court date. Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 22 in Baker County Circuit Court, where the court will decide the final prison term and close out one of the county’s most serious criminal cases from the past year.