A San Jose man convicted of second-degree murder for killing a 46-year-old father of two in a 2016 drunk driving incident was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Friday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Though jurors in the trial of Louis Sale, 33, were able to return guilty verdicts on four of his five charges — including felony vehicular manslaughter, felony drunk driving, felony driving with .08 percent or higher blood alcohol content and misdemeanor driving with a suspended license — it took them another day to find him guilty of second-degree murder in January, according to prosecutors.
Sale’s most serious conviction is the one his defense attorney Peter Goldscheider took issue with, noting the second-degree murder conviction went too far in his client’s case and blurred the distinction between legal and moral culpability as well as vehicular manslaughter and murder.
“It’s not a murder conviction and should never have been,” he said. “I think it’s really an unjust result.”
Recommended for you
Sale was driving his pickup truck heading south on Highway 101 around 3:45 a.m. April 9, 2016, when he struck the rear of a car driven by 46-year-old Vivaldo Braga Veloso Jr., of Burlingame, just north of the San Bruno Avenue off-ramp, according to prosecutors.
Investigators determined that Sale, who was uninjured, had objective signs of intoxication, and a blood test later showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent.
Veloso was transported to a hospital, but died three days later after being declared brain dead and taken off life support. He was the father of two daughters who were 4 and 6 years old at the time of his death, according to prosecutors.
Sale has been in custody on $1.1 million bail and will receive 720 days credit for time served, according to prosecutors.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.