Weller Found Guilty in Market Crash

By Lookout Staff

October 20 -- George Russell Weller, the 89-year-old driver who barreled through the Santa Monica Farmers Market killing ten people in July 2003, was convicted of all criminal charges by a jury Friday.

After eight days of deliberations, the jurors unanimously reached the harshest verdict possible, convicting Weller on 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with “gross negligence,” rather than misdemeanor negligence.

A judge must now decide whether Weller will go to prison for as many as 18 years. Defense attorney Mark Overland said Weller would appeal the verdict.

In their unanimous verdict the jurors rejected arguments that Weller’s 20-second drive down Arizona Avenue at high speeds was a simple accident when the elderly driver mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of hitting the brakes.

Prosecutors had argued that Weller was fleeing from a minor accident when his 1992 Buick rammed through the wooden barricades at the entrance to the Wednesday market, killing an infant, a married couple, a three-year-old girl, an elderly man and a transient, among others, and injuring more than 60. (see story)

Weller, who will turn 90 on December 7, was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read because of poor health, his attorneys said. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson has required that Weller attend the sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.

During the trail, prosecutors focused on Weller’s seeming arrogance and lack of concern after the tragedy. Two witnesses quoted Weller saying, “‘If you saw me coming, why didn't you get out of the way?"

The defense noted that such statements were not in the police reports and were not heard by others who were near Weller’s car after the crash.

In his closing argument, Overland questioned the testimony of a select number of witnesses, some of whom made statements on the witness stand that conflicted with what they told police.

The testimonies of the select witnesses, who were chosen from among the hundreds at the scene, were tailored to fit the defense’s arguments that Weller was capable of preventing the accident, Overland said.

"So what do you do with all this, do you pick and choose what fits your theory or do you look at all the evidence?" he asked the jurors.

The defense also focused on a police videotape secretly recorded within an hour of the crash in which Weller apologized for hurting "those poor, poor people" and said he had tried everything he could think of to stop the car.

"I'm in big trouble with my heart and soul,” he said on the tape. “That you can't fix."

In her rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney Ann Ambrose countered that the defense was diverting attention from the death of innocent people and using negligence as an excuse.

"He spent two hours ... talking about everyone other than the defendant," Ambrose told jurors. "He roared at you so you wouldn't look at the truth, the truth that Mr. Weller's conduct killed ten innocent people.

"Just because it's an accident doesn't mean there's no crime," Ambrose said. "You can't then use your negligence as an excuse."

On Wednesday, jurors asked the judge to clarify the definition of "gross negligence." Johnson responded in writing that "`gross negligence' involves more than ordinary carelessness, inattention or mistake in judgment."

"A person acts with gross negligence when: (1) he acts in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death or great bodily injury, and (2) a reasonable person would have known that acting in that way would create such a risk," Johnson wrote.

"In other words, a person acts with gross negligence when the way he acts is so different from how an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that his act amounts to a disregard for human life or indifference to the consequences of that act," he added.

In addition to facing prison time, Weller has also been sued by some of the surviving victims and the relatives of those who died in the July 16, 2003 crash.

News wires contributed to this report