SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A jury convicted a construction worker of murder Monday for a drunken-driving crash that killed promising rookie Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends.
It was the second driving under the influence conviction for Andrew Gallo, 23, who held white rosary beads and occasionally looked up at jurors as they returned their verdicts.
As he was led away in handcuffs, Gallo glanced over his shoulder at sobbing relatives of the victims gathered in the Orange County courtroom.
"What this case has shown is that the accelerator, the gas pedal on an automobile in the wrong hands is as dangerous as the trigger on a gun," Nigel Pearson, the father of 25-year-old victim Henry Pearson, said outside court. "And in the wrong hands, it can devastate the lives of many, many people."
Gallo faces 50 years to life in state prison at his scheduled sentencing on Dec. 10.