Jurors will soon be asked to decide whether a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer who was speeding on his way to work is guilty of vehicular manslaughter for crashing into and killing a man in Long Beach three years ago.

Trial on the misdemeanor charge is set to begin this week for Alfredo Oros Gutierrez, the CHP officer who has since retired because of the severe injuries he suffered in the wreck.

Prosecutors allege Gutierrez was riding his CHP motorcycle at 69 mph along Del Amo Boulevard on Oct. 27, 2019, when he hit 24-year-old Cezannie Mount near Cherry Avenue.

Mount, who—for an unknown reason—had been walking in the fast lane of Del Amo for about 2 miles before Gutierrez hit him, died at the scene, according to prosecutors. First responders rushed Gutierrez to the hospital, where he endured a lengthy recovery from injuries that left him with a brain bleed and in a coma for some time, according to his attorney.

Now medically retired from the CHP, Gutierrez could face a maximum of a year in jail if he’s convicted.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to file felony charges, which could have carried a stiffer penalty, but the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction over all misdemeanors in the city, chose to pursue the vehicular manslaughter case based on the accusation that Gutierrez was riding his motorcycle at an unsafe speed.

The case is complicated by the fact that the CHP—for unclear reasons—took over the investigation from the Long Beach Police Department, which had jurisdiction over the crash.

Radio traffic from that night indicates the LBPD had begun their investigation before handing it over to the CHP. The department has not been able to provide an answer about why that happened.

The resulting investigation, where a police agency was tasked with determining whether one of its own employees committed a crime, shows signs of bias, according to James Young, the prosecutor handling the case.

In a pretrial hearing Wednesday, he said the CHP’s report recommended against charges, saying most drivers would have been unable to stop in time to avoid hitting Mount even if they were only going the speed limit.

The CHP report also inaccurately praised Gutierrez’s unblemished driving record as evidence he was a highly skilled rider capable of judging what was safe, according to Young. In reality, Young said, Gutierrez had several speeding tickets from more than 15 years ago that investigators either didn’t find or didn’t mention.

“I think it’s biased, and I think they omitted it,” Young said.

Nevertheless, investigators concluded Gutierrez was traveling at 69 mph, according to Young—something the defense is expected to dispute by presenting their own expert testimony estimating his speed at closer to 46 mph.

Young said he expects to begin presenting evidence on Monday after completing jury selection Thursday or Friday.

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