A Yucca Valley man who is the owner of a Santa Cruz party bus has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to maintain the vehicle which caused a passenger to fatally tumble out from its faulty door. A Santa Clara County jury said Jon Reno St. James, 58, of Yucca Valley, knew of the broken door, as it had popped opened on previous trips, and failed to have it repaired. On July 27, 2012, Natasha Noland, 25, was riding on the bus with more than a dozen passengers. Noland and another woman began to fight as the vehicle drove southbound on Highway 17 near Los Gatos. The two tumbled out of the broken bus door. Noland fell underneath the vehicle and died from her injuries. The other passenger survived. St. James faces a maximum of four years in prison when he is sentenced May 29.
