Posted on 10/20/2006 11:53:34 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
The elderly driver who ran down and killed 10 people in an open air market in Santa Monica was convicted today of all criminal charges, decisively denying defense pleas for mercy.
The verdict leaves to a judge the task of deciding whether George Russell Weller, 89, goes to prison for as long as 18 years. Weller will appeal the decision, defense attorney Mark Overland said.
By their unanimous verdict, jurors rejected arguments that the aged driver made a mistake and found him guilty on 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for killing 10 people. He injured 68 others on July 16, 2003 when he drove at highway speeds through the popular Farmers' Market in Santa Monica.
There was no signs of emotion from the audience, which was mostly comprised of media.
The deadly drive in 2003 lasted less than 20 seconds. It was depicted in an animation played for jurors.
Prosecutors insisted Weller was criminally responsible and should be held accountable. They suggested that Weller was trying to run from a minor accident in which he was involved near the entrance to the market. His 1992 Buick busted through the wooden barricades at Arizona Avenue and killed an infant, a 3-year-old child, a married couple, a homeless man and an octogenarian among others.
Prosecutor Ann Ambrose, expecting to give birth to her second child next month, delivered an eloquent closing argument urging jurors to reject the idea that the violent death of 10 citizens was a simple accident.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The jury did it's job. Will the judge do the same or give him a get-out-of-jail-free-card?
"This really did have national consequences...as a result, nationally when there are street fairs and farmers markets, K rails or planters are now places across the entrances... "
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And that's what should have been done in Santa Monica. Most people aren't aware and the media totally ignored the very important facts, that Arizona is a fairly major street with a lot of traffic and they closed a few blocks of it for a few hrs every week, but the rest of the time it was a regular street -- and when they closed them, there weren't even prominently displayed signs saying the street was closed.
They should have big signs a block or two before saying that the street is closed ahead and barricades and very prominent signs at the closure. They had none of this.
Natually I feel very sorry for the victims, but I also feel very sorry for the old guy -- as I recall he never had a ticket or an accident, or at least not in a very long time.
His attorney must have been totally incompetent - - the "he made a mistake" was a ludicrous defense. He should have brought in what I just said above, illustrated with pictures and put the blame where it belonged, on the City of Santa Monica. This could have happened to anyone.
I am very familiar with the area.
Weller caused the damages and killed people. The City of Santa Monica did not. The victims' lawyers looking for big bucks rightfully had their lawsuit against the City of Santa Monica thrown out.
Weller was speeding through the market in order to flee the scene of an accident in which he was involved OUTSIDE OF the market. Like others who live in the area, he was well aware of the Wednesday Farmers Market. He knowingly drove around a barrier to the market -- including a "Road Closed" sign -- and accelerated as he did so, reaching a top speed of 60 mph.
As I recall, he claimed something like the accelerator locked and he couldn't brake. However, he never attempted to brake, as witnesses never saw brake lights on the car.
He hit several people hard enough to kill them and severely injure them. He did not stop because of that. He had a body dragging on the underside of his vehicle. He did not stop because of that. He had a body embedded into his windshield. He did not stop because of that. Bodies were literally "flying." He did not stop.
He was conscious the entire time. He was known to be an alert, active individual.
Sure, it makes people uncomfortable charging an old guy, but he never admitted responsibility for killing all those people and ruining the lives of the permanently injured.
that is the job 'scumbag defense lawyers' do---try to get their client off in any way possible---they don't have to tell the truth about anything since it is up to the prosecution to prove the charges---
by the by, I am 84 and agree 100% this POS should die in jail for killing and hurting all those people rather than stop and own up to a minor accident he was involved in---too many of these 'old bastards' driving around and creating problems (most were not any good at driving when they were young, either)
What?!?! The old man used a CAR? We're going to have to look seriously at banning them.
"Weller's behavior was intentional"
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I was around at that time too.
Weller has been an upstanding citizen of the community, no accident record. He probably got flustered after his fender bender with an another car and acrewed up, hit the accelerator, instead of the break. And how was he supposed to also remember that it was the day and time, when the street was closed for the Farmers Market. No way was that intentional. The TV coverage was AFTER the accident, not during. It's tragic. But they shouldn't hold Farmers Markets on streets in the first place, and they should have had warning signs and barricades, then he may have killed himself, hitting the barricade, but nobody else would have gotten hurt. The city's negligence put the people in danger. It was an accident waiting to happen, and this poor old guy happened to be the one who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If the street had been open as it was supposed to be and was 97% of the time, none of this would have happened.
He was very shaken and remorseful. It WAS a tragic accident, which would have been prevented, if the city would have held the farmer's market on a vacant lot, instead of closing down a street and would have had barricades and huge signs in advance, as they should have.
As I said, Weller's attorney was incompetent for not focusing on that.
You mean the hundreds of people milling around in the street wasn't a clue that he shouldn't speed through it doing 60? And you claim the defense came up with a lame excuse!
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