Larry Welborn of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER reports that secret Orange County (CA) Grand Jury testimony that led to Andrew Thomas Gallo being charged with three counts of second-degree murder and several other serious felonies for his role in the April 8, 2009, death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two young adult passengers has been released.
The testimony comes from Gallo’s stepbrother Raymond Rivera, who claimed to the Grand Jury that he was the one responsible for Gallo driving drunk the night Adenhart was killed by the Gallo-driven vehicle in an intersection collision. (Gallo ran a red light.) Gallo, who was driving with a suspended license after a recent DUI conviction was later found to have an alcohol level over three times the legal limit on the night in question.
Rivera told the Grand Jury that he was to be Gallo’s designated driver the night of April 8, 2009, but, “when I ordered the shot, it kind of changed the way the night would unfold.”
Welborn reports that the night of drinking and driving began as Rivera and Gallo were “celebrating the arrival of a government relief check.”
More details from the previously unreleased Grand Jury documents:
• Rivera testified that the duo started drinking at about 4 p.m. on April 8, 2009 at Johnny Carino’s Italian restaurant and bar in West Covina, and continued to drink for about seven hours, consuming Newcastle, Amber Bock, Sam Adams and Arrogant Bastard beers, and at least one shot of 1800 Tequila.
• After Johnny Carino’s, the pair went to a nearby bikini bar called The Well, where they started drinking “boombahs,” described by Rivera as beer “in a very, very large glass” maybe the size of half of a pitcher.
• At one point in the testimony, Price asks Rivera, “How many those did you drink?
Rivera responds that he’s not sure, “because while I was in this spot is where my memory starts to get very hazy.”
Price replies, “Okay, I can understand why.
At another point, Rivera testified that Gallo became upset when he ordered another round of beers – a harsh brew called Arrogant Bastard – because Gallo knew he had to drive.
But Rivera said he coerced his stepbrother into drinking the beer by asking him, “Are you going to turn it down?” after he had spent some of his last money on the purchase.
• Gallo also admitted drinking several beers and some shots of a Sake-type liquor, when he was interrogated several hours after the crash, Fullerton Det. Matthew Malone testified.
“He said he was buzzed,” Malone told the grand jury. “He blanked out pretty much.”
• Neither Rivera nor Gallo could reveal how they ended up driving in Fullerton, according to the testimony.
They lived in San Gabriel and had been drinking in West Covina, according to their accounts.
Malone testified that Gallo told him “he had never been in the city of Fullerton, doesn’t know anyone in the city of Fullerton, and doesn’t know why he would be in the city of Fullerton.”
•Gallo is also charged with felony hit-and-run causing injury or death for fleeing the crash site on foot.
Rivera testified that he woke up in the passenger seat after the impact and turned to see his stepbrother unbuckling his seat belt.
Q. Did he say anything to you?
A. “…he said, “run bitch.”
The move to charge Gallo with murder, and not vehicular manslaughter, is an extraordinary one by Orange County District Attorney Susan Price:
District Attorney Susan Price has accused Gallo of three counts of second-degree murder rather than the lesser crime of vehicular manslaughter under the legal theory of implied malice: that he knew that drinking and driving was dangerous to human life – in part because of his prior drunk driving conviction – but chose to do so anyway.
The charges mean that 23-year-old Gallo, if convicted, could be sentenced to up to 50 years in prison.
Jury selection for the trial began Monday with the entire court proceeding expected to take about a month.
7:52 pm on September 13th, 2010
Chicano trash
8:49 pm on September 13th, 2010
They were celebrating receiving their government relief check….shocking!
9:21 pm on September 13th, 2010
Was this Ernest or Julio? (you know, Gallo?)
on a serious note….think about the astronomical odds of this event, actually happening. it’s like being struck by lightning….or winning a bad lottery. For the drunks to have ended up in a city they’d never been to, and at a particular intersection, at a point in time that put them on an EXACT trajectory for Nick Adenhart’s vehicle, is unfathomable. His poor, family………
10:42 pm on September 13th, 2010
The government needs to drug and alcohol test for these pieces of shit that get a gov’t check. They have no business spending their money on booze and/or drugs. Forget that the guy killed was a baseball player. He was a son, brother, friend, and family member. This thing needs to be put in general population and reminded, anally, that he made a mistake.
10:50 pm on September 13th, 2010
i hope that idiot gets 50 years in the slammer. chicano trash is a good way to describe this clown
12:03 am on September 14th, 2010
They should just take the guy out back and shoot him
1:33 am on September 14th, 2010
After reading the testimony, it’s simply enraging from start to finish. I have personal connections to the driver of Nick’s vehicle and the situation is devastating. However, in all fairness, Nick and his friends, including the driver has also been drinking. Two wrongs do not make a right by any means, but we need to be realistic as a society. If Nick’s driver, who was a beautiful, young woman, had killed Gallo or Rivera, would we be attacking them in the same manner?
8:11 am on September 14th, 2010
LMFAO @ Kole.
LMFAO.
LMFAO.
9:58 am on September 14th, 2010
Gallo and Rivera are free to spend their government relief check ANY way they please.
It is YOUR responsibility to get back to work and pay your taxes so that they can have a comfortable life.
Racists.
10:03 am on September 14th, 2010
Race isn’t relevant. Piece of Sh-t drunks come in all colors and are what these two murderers are. They knew they’d go into blackout mode and end up in a death vehicle. They were gonna hit and kill. Gallo will rot but his partner in crime…what’s he staring at charge-wise Brooks?
10:47 am on September 14th, 2010
Really? Celebrating a goverment check!? REaally!?
This is what’s wrong here! The goverment gives away my tax money to dumb people! He is 24 years old he could work!
He deserves death penalty in my opinion! and this is coming from a Mexican-American here.
12:07 pm on September 14th, 2010
“Welborn reports that the night of drinking and driving began as Rivera and Gallo were “celebrating the arrival of a government relief check.”
What a surprise. Dumb, ethnic trash pissing away money meant for important things. And people wonder why racism still exists…
12:37 pm on September 14th, 2010
Idiots turn this into a racial issue when the trajedy is a death. Racist jackasses!
12:52 pm on September 14th, 2010
Amen! White people would NEVER apply for goverment relief checks, spend their money poorly, or drink and drive! This only happened because they were Hispanic!
1:59 pm on September 14th, 2010
I hope Gallo gets out and I will take him to the bar with my government check and buy some arrogant bastards for us!!!!
3:10 pm on September 14th, 2010
Race is no issue. The guy’s a worthless piece of dung regardless. No prison, though. We’ve paid enough support for them. Just turn them loose–somewhere in the Amazon jungle would do.
3:14 pm on September 14th, 2010
Too bad the DA can’t upgrade to 1st degree. This worthless POS deserves every day of a 50 year sentence. Race, sex–no matter. Prior DUI + Fatal crash = Your @$$ rots in prison.
3:58 pm on September 14th, 2010
I am also intrigued by the lack of focus on the restaurant’s continuing to serve two people who were obviously intoxicated. There is clear admission by the defendants where they obtained the alcohol and records would back up the fact that they were over-served. Fines and the loss of liquor licenses should be the minimum punishment for establishments who knowingly over-serve.
5:22 pm on September 14th, 2010
yeah, so, it’s hard to feel bad for a chump like this. throw all those repeat drunk driving red light runners away for good. i’ll sure bet he’s dried out in the can by now.
5:59 pm on September 14th, 2010
!!
6:45 pm on September 14th, 2010
goddamn worthless ass mexi-niggers ship’em all back south of the border! i’m tired of these worthless fucks ruining this country an yea i said it! i’m not rascist there’s worthless a-holes in every race there just seems to be more in the mexican race
11:14 am on September 15th, 2010
wasn’t that bitch driving drunk and oxy’d up
2:20 pm on September 15th, 2010
What really disturbing is that, whenever something like this happens, there are always people posting comments defending the drunken imbecile who killed people (because, let’s face it, they’d do the exact same thing in their position). This is exactly why stronger punishments (like Murder 2) need to be in place. These worthless, selfish, arrogant assholes think that it’s worth it to endanger the lives of everyone on or near the road by sending a several-ton hunk of metal at high speeds, piloted more or less blindly at the hands of their highly inebriated selves, down the road just to avoid walking or taking a cab or a bus. In the mind of Mr. Gallo, a $7 cab fare was weighed against a significant probability of killing someone . . . his choice reflects the value he places on human life.