A California man who crashed right into a automobile of six youngsters after they performed a doorbell prank on him in 2020 was sentenced to life in jail with out the opportunity of parole on Friday after his conviction on homicide costs, officers stated.
The man, Anurag Chandra, had been discovered responsible in April of three counts of first-degree homicide and three counts of tried homicide within the crash in Riverside County, Calif. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office argued that the crash, which killed three 16-year-old boys, was intentional.
At the sentencing by Judge Valerie Navarro, Craig Hawkins, the daddy of one of many victims, Daniel Hawkins, described the extreme grief he has felt since his son’s loss of life.
“Every day we sense the absence of this young man,” the elder Mr. Hawkins stated of his son in court docket, in keeping with a news launch from prosecutors. “The hole in our hearts and lives from the taking of our son’s life is staggering.”
Michael A. Hestrin, the Riverside County district legal professional, stated in a press release that “the lives of countless families will never be the same because of one man’s anger, callousness and outrageous conduct, and I am grateful to Judge Navarro for imposing the maximum sentence in this case.”
David Wohl, an legal professional for Mr. Chandra, stated that he and his shopper had been “disappointed” within the conviction and sentence. He stated that he deliberate to enchantment the decision.
“While we believe that some sort of manslaughter conviction would have been appropriate, a murder conviction under these circumstances was simply erroneous,” Mr. Wohl stated.
On the night time of Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, one of many boys had been dared to prank a house, the district legal professional’s workplace stated, and the six youngsters drove to Mr. Chandra’s home in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The boy rang the doorbell and returned to the Prius they had been driving in, and the group drove off.
Mr. Chandra chased them in his personal automobile, elevated his velocity to 99 miles per hour and rammed into the again of the Prius, “causing it to veer off the road and into a tree,” prosecutors stated.
Mr. Chandra fled after the crash, the California Highway Patrol stated, and was arrested after witnesses adopted him and alerted the authorities.
Three boys, Daniel Hawkins, Jacob Ivascu and Drake Ruiz, had been killed, the authorities stated. The driver, Sergio Campusano, then 18, and two different boys, Joshua Hawkins, then 13, and Joshua Ivascu, then 14, had been injured.
During the trial, Mr. Chandra testified that he had been afraid for his household’s security after he noticed an individual with a hooded sweatshirt outdoors his dwelling, and that he chased down the opposite automobile to verbally specific his anger, The Press-Enterprise reported. He additionally testified that he drank 12 bottles of beer on the night time of the crash, the newspaper reported.
Lauren McCarthy contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com