Our Ontario DUI criminal defense attorneys wrote a few months ago about the ongoing murder trial of alleged drunk driver Andrew Thomas Gallo. As baseball fans may remember, Gallo is the driver accused of killing 22-year-old Nick Adenhart, a pitcher for the Angels who had just started his fourth major league game. The same crash also killed Courtney Stewart, 20, a Cal State Fullerton student; and Henry Pearson, 25, a law student and aspiring sports agent. A fourth passenger, Jonathon Wilhite, suffered a serious injury called an internal decapitation and is still recovering from the April 2009 accident. Gallo's passenger and stepbrother, Raymond Alejandro Rivera, was also injured. Gallo is accused of speeding through a red light with a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit, broadsiding Stewart's car and pushing it into a light pole. His driver's license was suspended at the time because of a previous DUI conviction.
In April, Gallo's criminal defense attorney motioned to move the trial out of Orange County, saying Gallo could not get a fair trial in a county full of Angels fans. Now, the Orange County Register reported June 1, Gallo's attorney has also asked for a delay in the trial. Defense attorney Jacqueline Goodman Rubio became the attorney of record on April 16 of this year, after Gallo successfully moved to replace his public defender with the private lawyer. Rubio told the court that despite working full-time to catch up on the case, she needs more time to prepare for the July 26 trial, and to prepare a motion to move the trial. The prosecutor opposed both the change of venue and the delay, as does the private attorney for the victims' families.
As our Placentia drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote in April, Gallo is charged with three counts of second-degree murder instead of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. (This is in addition to DUI and other charges.) The prosecutor in the case says the charge fits because Gallo had a previous DUI conviction, which means he knew driving drunk was dangerous. However, second-degree murder is a substantially more serious charge, carrying 15 years to life for each count, rather than the four to ten years possible for each gross vehicular manslaughter conviction. And, as we wrote in April, second-degree murder requires "malice aforethought," meaning premeditation or "an abandoned and malignant heart." Driving drunk is not a good decision, but we believe it's a stretch to argue that Gallo set out to kill three people he'd never met. Given the wide discrepancy between the manslaughter and murder sentences, we hope his jury thinks carefully about whether a conviction is truly just.
Howard Law, P.C. represents clients of all backgrounds and walks of life who are charged with drunk driving and related crimes. This includes serious crimes like vehicular manslaughter and DUI with great bodily injury, as well as first drunk driving charges. Many clients don't come to us until well after an arrest -- after the ten-day deadline has passed to try to save your driver's license. Our Mission Viejo intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys prefer to take on cases much earlier -- as early as possible -- so we can coordinate defense of your driving privilege with defense of the criminal drunk driving case. Penalties for even a first DUI can be very high, including jail or probation, alcohol classes, steep fines and loss of your driver's license. But law enforcement can make mistakes, and sometimes, those mistakes can get your charges dismissed or your penalties substantially reduced.
If you're charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in California, don't hesitate to call Howard Law, P.C. to learn how we can help. To set up a free consultation, send us a message online or call 1-800-872-5925 today.
