> ## 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. # Witnesses say Weller had control of vehicle - URL: https://www.smdp.com/witnesses-say-weller-had-control-of-vehicle/ - Published: 2006-09-20T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T21:25:03.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Crime, Downtown, #archive-import *Local 6 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 A newspaper with issues Witnesses remember fateful day at market* *By JESSICA ROBERTS Special to the Daily Press* DOWNTOWN LA — The prosecution on Tuesday continued to build its case against the elderly driver who is on trial for killing 10 and injuring dozens of others while shopping at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market three years ago. Several witnesses testified that they saw George Russell Weller, then 86 years old, drive at accelerated speeds through the busy market on Arizona Avenue and appeared to have control of his vehicle as horrified shoppers attempted to get out of his way. The prosecution called to the witness stand several people who had been standing at various points along Arizona Avenue from Fourth to Second streets on July 16, 2003 when Weller, a longtime Santa Monica resident, careened through the open market. He faces 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Multiple witnesses testified that Weller’s car sounded as if it was accelerating and that his hands were on the wheel until the vehicle came to a stop. They were asked about the speed and direction of the car and the sound of the engine, as well as Weller’s posture and hand position on the wheel, building a case for Deputy District Attorney Ann Ambrose that Weller had control of the car during the crash. Michael Harris, who was standing on Arizona Avenue between Third and Fourth streets at the time of the crash, said he saw Weller through the passenger window as he drove by. Harris described Weller’s posture and demonstrated how he was sitting, with his shoulders pressed back against the driver’s seat, his hips lifted forward, and his arms extended straight out. “Both hands were on the steering wheel — at the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock position,” Harris testified. He said Weller’s hands were making “a slight back and forth motion” with the wheel. “(His face) was very focused,” Harris said. “The face was almost rigid and frozen... the head was pointing ahead.” On cross-examination, defense attorneys challenged Harris’ statement to police, in which he had said it appeared Weller was not in control of the car. Harris responded, “he appeared to be in control of the steering wheel, but the car was out of control.” Weller’s hands are a key point for his defense lawyers, who contend that his hands were knocked off the wheel by the deployment of the air bag. Larry Davis, who had been standing half a block away from Harris, said Weller’s hands were on the wheel at the “10 and 2 position,” but that he was “hunched forward” over the wheel. Each witness was asked about the sound of the engine as it passed, describing for jurors a revving or roaring sound associated with acceleration. “I heard the roar of an engine as if someone had floored it, had hit the accelerator,” Harris said. Another witness, Debra Hope, was standing at the corner of Arizona Avenue and Third Street. She testified that the engine made a sound “like you hear from a cop car as it takes off. “It just shot like a rocket,” she said. Defense attorneys claim that Weller suffered a moment of pedal error and mistook the gas pedal for the brake. Ambrose asked the witnesses not only about the sound of the car’s engine, but also whether they had heard a car horn. Each of them said they had not heard a horn. Sounds were brought up repeatedly during testimony as part of the prosecution’s case and also the witnesses’recollection of the freakish incident. “For a second or two, the only sound was the sound of the automobile crashing into the stalls and the bodies,” Harris said. “Seconds passed before the screaming started.” Hope said there was “a very eerie silence when he finally came to a stop.” A key witness for the prosecution was Susan Watkins, who said she was giving a statement to police when she and Andy Fisher, another witness who testified Monday, heard Weller say, “If you saw me coming, why didn’t you get out of the way?” Defense attorneys asked Watkins in cross-examination about the deposition she made related to the civil lawsuits against Weller and also her testimony as recorded in a police report, pointing out inconsistencies in how far she was from the curb — six or 10 feet — and whether she had leaned in toward the fruit stand or jumped onto the curb. The defense team questioned the witnesses about the car’s windshield, whether it was cracked or shattered and to what extent. Most witnesses said it was shattered, although they could not say how badly because the car passed by too quickly. Testimony was sometimes emotional as witnesses recounted a scene of chaos, describing bodies, tents and tables “flying”as the car careened through the stalls, hitting a woman and her baby carriage, tossing two people over the car and finally stopping over the body of a woman. Stephanie Cortes was pressed against the front of a fruit stand by the car and escaped with a cut leg and bruises. Jennifer Shinler was pinned to the ground by a fallen table. Shinler, who had been at the market buying oranges, was asked to tell the jury how far from her a man had been standing before he was killed. She reached her right arm out to the side and cried as she said,“right here.” The trial continues today with testimony, through a Farsi interpreter, from a woman who was trapped under the car. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 20, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092006.pdf?ref=smdp.com)