Drunk driver Andrew Gallo guilty of LA Angels' Nick Adenhart murder after crash
Drunk driver found guilty of murder of new star pitcher for LA Angels after horror crash
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Killer: Andrew Gallo, 23, was found guilty of murder today after a drink driving crash that killed three people
A drunk driver faces life behind bars after being convicted today of murdering promising Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends.
Andrew Gallo, 23, showed little emotion as a jury read out the guilty verdicts at Santa Ana courthouse in Orange County.
Adenhart, 22, was killed just hours after pitching six scoreless innings in his season debut in April, 2009.
Gallo had spent hours drinking beers and shots at three different bars with his stepbrother before running a red light and slamming into a car driven by Adenhart’s friend, 20-year-old Courtney Stewart.
The young driver, a student and former cheerleader at Cal State Fullerton, and passenger Henry Pearson, a 25-year-old law school student who was building a sports management business, were both killed instantly.
Adenhart died later in surgery.
A third passenger, Jon Wilhite, survived, but was severely injured when the impact of the collision separated his skull from his spine.
Gallo’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit at the time of the crash. He fled after the crash, but was later caught and charged.
Death of a promising star: Nick Adenhart, the new pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, poses for a portrait in February, 2008. He died just over a year later
Prosecutor Susan Price claimed Gallo ‘carries the entire burden of this crime. Their deaths lie squarely at his feet.
In her closing argument, she said Gallo had been repeatedly warned by his friends, family and court officials about the dangers of drinking and driving. He was convicted of a DUI charge three years before the crash and was still on probation when it happened.
After more than a day of deliberations, the jury found Gallos guilty of three counts of second-degree murder, felony DUI and felony hit-and-run. He faces a sentence of 55 years to life in prison.
Ten members of the star pitcher's family were in the public gallery to hear the verdict.
Prosecutors said they charged Gallo with murder rather than the lesser count of manslaughter because of his previous DUI conviction.
To win a conviction, they had to prove the driver acted with implied malice, intentionally drove drunk and acted with a conscious disregard for human life.
During the trial, Ms Price showed video of Gallo drinking heavily in a West Covina bikini bar before the tragedy.
Defence lawyer Jacqueline Goodman argued that Gallo took along his stepbrother as a designated driver, but he took the wheel after his relative got too drunk to drive.
She said Gallo made a bad decision, but asked the jury: 'Use your common sense. Is it murder?’
Gallo is expected to appeal the verdict.
Horror: The mangled Toyota Sienna mini-van driven by Adenhart is taken away from the scene of the crash in Fullerton, California, on April 9, 2009
Tragedy: Horrified passers-by watch as the mini-van is removed from the scene of the accident
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