Posted on 12/22/2010 6:24:57 PM PST by dragnet2
SANTA ANA – A repeat drunken driver for the alcohol-induced crash that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others wept Wednesday as he apologized to the relatives of his victims
"I am truly sorry," said Andrew Thomas Gallo, 24. "I want you to know I never intended to hurt anyone.
Judge then sentenced Gallo to the near-maximum term: 51 years to life.
Carrie Stewart-Dixon, the mother of victim Courtney Stewart, told Gallo: "The night you killed my baby, you killed me. ... I have a huge hole in my heart without Courtney. I cry every day, and my heart is broken forever."
Chris Stewart, Courtney's father, said her death "created a wound in our family that will only fester with each passing holiday."
And Betsy Wilhite, mother of Jon Wilhite, who was severely injured in the high-speed collision, said her son was devastated when he learned his three friends were killed. "Mr. Gallo, you put my son through hell."
A written statement was submitted to the court by Adenhart's family. "Our pain is not a state of being but a condition of life. We live with this hole in our family, our heart, our belief and our lives. No amount of words will ever fill that hole.....
The crash occurred only hours after an Angels game in which Adenhart pitched six innings of shutout baseball. After the game, Adenhart and his friends headed to a nightclub in Fullerton in a Mitsubishi coupe.
They never made it.
Adenhart, 22, made his major league debut in 2008
Also killed were Courtney Frances Stewart, 20, the driver of the Mitsubishi who was a former cheerleader at Cal State Fullerton, and Henry Nigel Pearson, 25, a graduate from Arizona University.
A fourth person Jon Wilhite, 24, suffered an "internal decapitation" but survived.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Andrew Thomas Gallo breaks down in tears as he listens to members of his family speak on his behalf prior to sentencing in Superior Court in Santa Ana, Wednesday morning. Judge Richard Toohey sentenced him to 51 years to life for the drunk driving deaths of Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart, Henry Pearson, and Courtney Stewart, in the April 9, 2009, auto collision in Fullerton.
Be extremely careful when using alcohol.
“....I never intended to hurt any one.”
I’m so sick of hearing the low-lifes in this world uttering this cliche. Liars, cheaters, drunk drivers......
“51 years to life” in California means that he will be out within 2 years.
Look at his name, one guess what his color is.
Yup, he’s white. I knew it. Do the deed and then cry in court.
Doing the killing Mexicans won’t do.
Maybe in your dreams.
Fact is California has some of the toughest criminal sentencing laws in the *entire* county and is one of the reasons for relatively low crime in California major cities and the reason most 2-time criminal losers flee to states like yours and others.
Tough luck for him that he nailed a pro athlete. If the victim was some nobody, he’d be on the street by now.
Wrong...California has some of the toughest criminal sentencing laws in the *entire* county and is one of the reasons for relatively low crime in California major cities and the reason most 2-time criminal losers flee to states like yours and others.
Too soon old. Too late smart.
This should be recognized as a capital crime. This man should be executed in short order for what he did.
Translation: I never intended to get caught
51 to life isn’t enough.
Urban Dictionary: Internal Decapitation
Jan 9, 2009 ... When someone’s head is completely dislocated from their body, but remains attached by the neck skin.
OUCH!
Tough luck for him that he nailed a pro athlete. If the victim was some nobody, he’d be on the street by now.
Here ya go. and this was a "minor"...
Dec. 22, 2010 5:29 p.m. BUENA PARK – A teenager charged with being under the influence of alcohol when he ran a red light Saturday and slammed into a car at a high rate of speed, killing an Oxford Academy senior and his father, was driving on a learner's permit, authorities said Wednesday.
Lopez remains at Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana on $2 million bail on charges of vehicular manslaughter by an unlawful act causing death with gross negligence while intoxicated, with sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury.
If convicted, he faces up to 13 years in state prison.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/lopez-281431-alcohol-driver.html
No joke.
Ya, but it's more than he'd get in most other states for felony drunk driving.
“”relatively low crime in California major cities “”
You have to be kidding!!! WOW! What do you call a major city?
Do you really believe that LA and San Francisco have “relatively low crime”?
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