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Infinite_Loser · 10-20-2006, 12:36 PM

Man, 89, guilty of killing 10 in farmer's market crash

Quote:

LOS ANGELES. California (AP) -- An elderly driver who killed 10 people and injured more than 70 when his car plowed through a farmers market was found guilty Friday of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

George Russell Weller, 89, was not in court to hear the verdict. He faces as many as 18 years in prison.

Weller, who is frail and in poor health, attended only the trial's opening statements.

Jurors deliberated eight days before reaching the harshest verdict possible in the crash in Santa Monica three years ago.

Weller's attorneys argued he was a victim of "pedal error," that mistook his car's accelerator for the brake and panicked when the vehicle raced into the open-air market on July 16, 2003.

Prosecutors said he was careless to the point of criminal negligence and lacked remorse.

"He looked at what he had done, essentially shrugged his shoulders and said 'oops,"' prosecutor Ann Ambrose told the jury.

The crash left behind a devastating scene and ignited a national debate over elderly drivers.

Weller's 1992 Buick Le Sabre traveled about 300 yards, reaching speeds of 60 mph or more as it crashed into food stalls. It finally came to a stop after hitting a ditch, with one victim's body tangled underneath and another's draped across the hood.

During the trial, jurors were shown photos of victims, who ranged in age from 7 months to 78 years.

Weller did not testify, but jurors heard his taped interview with police immediately after the crash in which he said he tried everything he could think of to stop the car.

"I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park. Everything. Anything that I thought would stop the action of the car," he said.

Weller said he had no idea how many people he hit.

"But I'm deeply sorry for any pain that everyone went through," he said. "It was my fault."

I remember this when it happened, but I have to say that I'm shocked at the verdict (Actually, I'm more appalled than anything). Maybe it's juse me, but I don't see what throwing an 89 year old man in jail is going to accomplish, especially considering the fact that he's already frail in health. The justice system seems more concerned with handing out exorbitant sentences to people who don't deserve them than they are dealing with the people who do deserve them.