Four days after a jury began deliberations on a verdict for a San Jose man charged with killing a 46-year-old father of two, its members found him guilty of second-degree murder Friday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Though jurors Wednesday decided Louis Sale, 33, was guilty of felony vehicular manslaughter, felony drunk driving and other charges for his role in a fatal Burlingame crash, it took them another day to reach a verdict on his murder charge. After one of the jurors was unable to continue serving because of a planned vacation, an alternate juror was substituted so that deliberations on the murder charge could continue, according to prosecutors.
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 offramp, 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.
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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.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Sale faces life in prison when he returns to court April 27 for sentencing. Defense attorney Peter Goldscheider could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wagstaffe said Sale is believed to have consumed some 16 shots of liquor by the time he crashed into Veloso’s car, forever altering the lives of Veloso’s wife and two children.
“This case is an example of a tragedy on all sides because the defendant is now potentially giving up the rest of his life,” he said.
what happened to the article about the 28 yr. old Stanford grad who killed a man driving the wrong way on 101? BAC .13 , he got 4yrs 8 mths.....but this guy gets 2nd degree murder?
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what happened to the article about the 28 yr. old Stanford grad who killed a man driving the wrong way on 101? BAC .13 , he got 4yrs 8 mths.....but this guy gets 2nd degree murder?
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Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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