> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Weller gets his day in court - URL: https://www.smdp.com/weller-gets-his-day-in-court/ - Published: 2006-09-13T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T21:24:06.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Crime, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless *FARMER’S MARKET TRIAL, from page 1 Defense, prosecution present their cases* DOWNTOWN LA — They came from different worlds, drawn together by fate and forever linked by tragedy. There’s Leroy Lattier, 55, a homeless man living on the streets of Santa Monica; Diana, 41, and Kevin McCarthy, 50, a married couple from New York visiting the city while on vacation; and Cindy Valladares, a 3-year-old who, along with her mother, was on her way to deliver shoes to her father. They were strangers to one another with nothing in common except for one thing — each would be killed in a matter of seconds by one man, George Russell Weller, now on trial for their deaths and those of six others who were struck by the then 86-year-old’s Buick LaSabre as it barreled down a crowded Farmers’ Market in the afternoon of July 16, 2003. If convicted on all 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, Weller, 89, faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. During the first day of what is expected to be a six-week trial, prosecutor Ann Ambrose told the story of that tragic Wednesday afternoon when Weller drove his car through the market, hurling bodies several feet into the air before coming to a rest nearly 1,000 feet later, his sedan buckled and broken, the windshield shattered from the weight of 78-year-old Movsha Hoffman’s body. In addition to the 10 deaths, 63 people were injured. On Tuesday in a courtroom in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Ambrose and Weller’s attorney, Mark Borenstein, spent 2 1/2 hours with their opening statements. One witness for the prosecution, Pauline Kokozyon, testified that she was rear-ended by Weller seconds before the carnage ensued. During cross examination, Borenstein suggested that Kokozyon’s memory of the accident may be cloudy and therefore unreliable. Ambrose told a jury comprised of eight men and four women that Weller made no attempts to stop his car as it slammed into unsuspecting shoppers, knocking them “right out of their shoes,” some hit so hard that their flesh was ripped from their bones. Two witnesses will testify that after the accident, amidst the chaos and confusion, a “surly and uncooperative” Weller walked calmly to the side of the street and said, “If you saw me coming, you should have gotten out of my way,” Ambrose said. “No vehicles were damaged at any time, not even a scratch,” Ambrose said as she described a scene in which Weller’s LaSabre weaved from one side of Arizona Avenue to the other, striking pedestrians, but none of the farmers’ trucks, which were parked all along the perimeter of the market. Borenstein told jurors that there is no doubt Weller was in the driver’s seat that day three years ago. However, Borenstein said the deaths were the result of “an accident” that involved the long-time Santa Monica resident mistakenly pumping the gas pedal instead of the brake. Attorneys from both sides agreed that there was nothing wrong with the car or with Weller. “As tragic and as horrible and as sad as it all was, the accident on July 16 was just that, an accident,” Borenstein said. “It could have happened to anybody. It was completely unperceivable — no more predictable than a heart attack … or a stroke or a seizure. It was the result of a completely innocent mistake compounded by extreme panic. The evidence will show no negligence and certainly no gross negligence.” As Borenstein spoke, Weller — dressed in a blue blazer, white dress shirt and gray slacks — sat motionless in a wheelchair, staring straight ahead at Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson with his hands neatly folded in front of him. Occasionally, Weller would look up at a screen where graphic images of the accident were projected for jurors and members of the audience, which was filled with nearly a dozen journalists and two of Weller’s supporters. Weller only said a few words to the judge, mumbling “yes” when asked if he understood his right to not attend the trial. Weller, who had to have a family member put on his tie for him and wheel him in and out of the courtroom, has opted to waive his right to be present during the remainder of the proceedings, having to only appear for opening statements, or if called upon by the judge. There is some concern from Weller’s attorneys about his health and his ability to sit through the many hours of testimony,some of which will be difficult for Weller to hear considering he “lives every day with the knowledge” of what happened, Borenstein said. He noted that Weller said during a police interview soon afterward that he was “scarred in my soul.” “I’m in big trouble with my heart and soul — that you can’t fix,” Borenstein said, quoting Weller’s comments to police investigators that day. The day of the accident had started off as a happy one, Borenstein said, with Weller deciding to drive to the post office on Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue to drop off a letter to his great niece, who was getting married the upcoming Saturday. Weller apparently told his wife that he feared the letter would not arrive on time if he gave it to his mail carrier Ernie and, therefore, decided to drop it off himself. It was then that he got into a minor accident with a gold Mercedes Benz driven by Kokozyon at the intersection of Arizona Avenue and Fourth Street. Borenstein said he believes his client went to press the brake quickly to stop the car following the accident — a movement he had performed thousands of times before — but instead hit the accelerator sending him into the market, which started just yards from the scene of the accident. Borenstein plans to call experts with the California Highway Patrol’s accident investigation team to testify about the possibility that the accident was caused by “pedal error.” After striking several pedestrians, Borenstein said the car’s air bag deployed at a speed of “200 miles per hour,” blasting Weller back, preventing him from gaining control of the steering wheel. “This was not a hit and run,” Borenstein said. Ambrose, with the support of Kokozyon’s testimony, suggested Weller tried to flee the scene of the accident and that’s why he sped into the market. “I was expecting him to pull over,” Kokozyon said. “But he just drove around me and sped off … going from zero to 60 just like that.” Testimony from witnesses who were at the scene of Kokozyon’s accident are expected to take the stand today. The prosecution will call about a dozen witnesses and experts before resting its case. Along with the criminal charges, Weller faces civil wrongful death lawsuits filed by members of the victims’ families. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 13, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)