Jury convicts man in fatal DUI crash that killed Angels pitcher

An Orange County jury has convicted a San Gabriel man of murder for the drunk driving death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends. The jury read the verdict today in Santa Ana after a little more than a full day of deliberations.

When Andrew Gallo pounded back shot after shot after shot and got behind the wheel of his van last year with a blood alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit, prosecutors said he demonstrated “conscious disregard” for human life.

He’d been convicted of a DUI before. He knew that drinking and driving could be deadly. But he did it anyway. That’s why the jury convicted Gallo of three counts of second-degree murder — and all the other charges related to the deadly crash that killed three people, including Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart.

Chris Stewart’s daughter, Courtney, also died in the crash.

"It’s a stitch in a wound that’s never going to heal for us, for these families," Stewart said a few minutes after the verdict was read. "But at least it’s over and justice is served."

Nigel Pearson lost his son, Henry, in the crash. The father says he’s satisfied with the verdict. He says he hopes it sends a message to others who might consider driving after drinking.

"The gas pedal in an automobile, in the wrong hands, is as dangerous as the trigger on a gun," Pearson says. "And in the wrong hands, you know, it can devastate the lives of many, many people. And people need to understand that every time that they enter an automobile, turn it on and get out on our roads."

Juror Dennis Rooney says the jury didn’t buy the defense argument that Gallo may not have been the driver. He says that was pretty cut-and-dry.

But Rooney recalls that at first, he wasn’t sure whether the case met the legal requirement for second-degree murder. So he says the jurors went step-by-step through the definition to see if it applied to the case against Gallo.

"Did he do this consciously? The effort of what he did was a conscious disregard. And we felt it was, at the end," Rooney says. "He did shots knowingly. Nobody forced him. He doesn’t like shots. He did them anyway.

"The amount of alcohol that he drank was enormous that night. He never should have – and he had the opportunity to call a taxi, call his girlfriend, do something. He didn’t have to drive."

Juror Beth Smith says for her, the case was very emotional, especially since she has children about the same age as the young people involved in the collision. She says she spent an emotional weekend thinking about everything, so she could return at the start of the week with a clear mind.

She says the jurors weighed both sides of the case.

"A lot of discussions. A lot of discussions. You know, even though it seems like it was a short time, we still had a lot of good conversations," Smith says. "We had a lot of good people in there, you know. A lot of good, fair people were in there."

Fellow juror Dennis Rooney says the idea that a conviction could ruin Andrew Gallo’s life did cross his mind. He’s sure it was on other jurors’ minds, too.

Prosecutors had worried that the jurors would fail to convict Gallo because they felt sorry for him.

"The jury never really got into detail talking about that. The fact that it was a tragedy for his family, too, came up. That we felt sorry," Rooney says. "We did feel sympathy, but again, it came back to one of your kids getting into trouble, sometimes hard love and this is serious."

Rooney says the verdict has led to conversations with his own kids, who are also about the same age as 23-year-old Andrew Gallo and the young people killed in the accident.

"My boys, we talk about this every night now," Rooney says. "This is what could happen to you. Don’t do it."

Orange County prosecutor Susan Price says she hopes this case will convey a clear message to would-be drunk drivers.

She points out this is Orange County’s 11th DUI-related murder conviction in the last two years.

"The DUI fatality numbers are down nationwide, but especially in Orange County," Price says. "We believe that as a result of the aggressive prosecution of DUI suspects since 2008, the numbers in the county are down and that people are being educated."

Orange County prosecutes between one-quarter and one-third of its DUI-fatality cases as second-degree murder.

But in this case, the attorney for Andrew Gallo describes the murder conviction as a “tragedy” and a “miscarriage of justice.” She plans to appeal the conviction.

Gallo faces 50 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced in December.