The lunch lasted from about noon to 2:30 p.m. Sepolio testified that he had two alcoholic drinks - cider and a glass of wine - at lunch with a colleague from North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado. Prosecution and defense lawyers presented varying blood-alcohol test results on Sepolio and interpretations of what caused him to swerve out of control on the bridge arching over Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. 14 and continued over the next three weeks.
#GUY DRIVES OFF OVERPASS TRIAL#
The trial got underway with testimony on Jan. “Although it was hard to see him get handcuffed, his family didn’t have to see him lowered into the ground like other families had to witness,” Treviño said. Pablo Treviño, publisher of a magazine that hosted the motorcycle rally, said he was a “little disappointed” in the outcome of the trial because Sepolio, with his wife and child, has a life ahead of him after prison. He had 11 deputies posted inside his courtroom and several more just outside. Sepolio married the girlfriend with whom he was talking on his cellphone just before his crash.ĭozens of friends and relatives of those who died, as well victims who were injured in the park attended the trial and listened quietly to the verdicts.īecause of one outburst from an audience member during the trial, the judge spent several minutes cautioning them about any disturbances while he read the verdicts. They did not talk to reporters after the court proceeding. Sepolio’s parents, from Texas, sat in on the nearly month-long trial, along with his wife and their baby. Pfingst said Sepolio asked him to tell his family to “stay strong.” A sheriff’s deputy handcuffed Sepolio’s hands behind his back and escorted him out of the courtroom to a holding cell. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)Īfter reading the verdicts - a process that took nearly 30 minutes - the judge ordered Sepolio’s bail revoked and had him taken into custody. Jurors also were concerned over the California Highway Patrol’s mishandling of evidence, noting testimony that CHP investigators had stored away one of Sepolio’s blood samples and forgotten about it.
One of the more difficult legal issues they wrestled with, Miller said, was whether Sepolio’s blood-alcohol level had impaired him.
“I think it was a very difficult decision to come to, a lot of factors,” Miller said. One of the jurors, Matthew Miller, told reporters that the panel members felt good about their verdicts. “But it is disappointing, despite the fact that he was driving under the legal limit, he was found guilty of driving under the influence.” “We’re gratified that the most serious charges were found not guilty,” Pfingst said.
They’re going to be greatly missed.”ĭefense attorney Paul Pfingst noted, too, that the case was a tragic one for all involved. Timothy Contreras, nephew of Cruz and Annamarie Contreras, said the family is “feeling pretty good about the verdicts.”īut, he added, “This whole thing has been tough - on (Sepolio’s) family, too. “Nothing will bring back the family members lost that day,” she added. He faces a range from probation to 18 years in prison.īright said if Sepolio gets an 18-year prison term, he would have to serve 85 percent of that, or 15 years. Sepolio is expected to be sentenced April 2. Jurors completed their deliberations on Monday, but Judge Charles Rogers decided to hold off on reading the verdicts until Wednesday - after a Tuesday court holiday - to give family and friends of Sepolio and of the victims time to travel to San Diego, in some cases from out of state. The roadway was partially shut down while authorities responded to the crash Monday morning.Ĭentral Thruway is closed between Hamilton and Frenchtown Road.A passenger truck fell from the Coronado Bridge onto an event in Chicano Park killing four people and injuring several others. The car traveled down an embankment and ended up beneath the bridge, where it struck a concrete pillar. Breard then went into the grass, overcorrected and ended up driving across both sides of the roadway before going off-road again. Deputies first began following his vehicle early Monday morning from a business on O'Neal Lane that had just been burglarized, according to the sheriff's office.Īround 4:30 a.m., deputies said Breard was driving down Central Thruway, and reportedly turned off his lights in an effort to evade law enforcement. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said Dylan Breard, 27, was involved in several burglaries in the capital area. BATON ROUGE - A suspected burglar died while fleeing sheriff's deputies after his vehicle went off-road and ended up beneath a bridge.
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