Elderly driver could spend 18 years in jail for Farmers’ Market crash
A judge on Wednesday ordered Russell Weller of Santa Monica to stand trial for speeding through a Farmers’ Market in July of 2003, killing 10 people and injuring 63.
Weller, 87, who lives with his wife north of Montana Avenue, faces 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. If convicted, he could spend 18 years in jail.
Defense attorneys in a court hearing Wednesday argued Weller mistook the accelerator of his 1992 Buick LeSabre for the brake pedal and had no control as he careened through the downtown Santa Monica outdoor market. They asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader to dismiss the charges.
4D3,“The people had absolutely, positively no evidence that Mr. Weller acted with anything close to gross negligence,” said Jim Bianco, one of several lawyers working for Weller. In order to prove gross negligence, prosecutors must show the crash was aggravated, reckless or flagrant.
Weller rear-ended a sedan at Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue before driving through the market and prosecutors during the eight-day hearing suggested Weller acted intentionally. They called more than a dozen eyewitnesses, one who said Weller deliberately reversed and turned around the car he had hit before speeding off. Another witness said Weller looked around before accelerating across Fourth Street, then braked and veered slightly left and right, as if he were considering an alternative escape route before gassing into the market.
Bianco and fellow defense attorney Mark Overland also put more than a dozen eyewitnesses on the stand in their attempt to show Weller wasn’t in control at the time of the accident. Both sides called a handful of expert witnesses, and defense attorneys pointed to a 914-page police report released last December that determined the crash likely was caused by Weller confusing the accelerator with the brake pedal.
In the end, Judge Mader decided the case should proceed. Preliminary hearings are designed to allow both sides to lay out their cases before a judge, who then decides if enough evidence exists for the charges.
Overland said the judge’s decision was disappointing, but not a major setback.
“We were hoping that the judge would put an end to the prosecution, but the burden of proof is so slight for the prosecution that it’s always a long shot getting something dismissed at this stage,” said Overland, adding lawyers likely will file a motion to dismiss the case after Weller is formally arraigned and before the case is given to Los Angeles Superior Court Keith Schwartz, who is expected to oversee the jury trial.
Though he attended the first half day of his preliminary hearing last Monday, Weller was excused due to a heart condition that defense attorneys said likely contributed to the accident. Overland on Wednesday afternoon said Weller continues to struggle with guilt from the carnage he caused.
“He’s devastated by this whole thing,” Overland said, adding Weller for the most part has remained secluded in his home since the fatal crash last summer. “He’s been devastated since the beginning and that’s unchanged. He’ll be devastated by this until the day he dies. There’s no change in terms of his spirits.”
Mark Overland
0 1 DCF 1 00050000000B00000002 0 1 DCF 0
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 4, 2004. Read the original PDF.