Drunk driver who killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart gets 51 years to life
"You're right — I am a horrible person," Gallo told Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey before sentencing. "They had big, bright futures ahead of them. And because of me, they're gone."
Toohey gave prosecutors what they sought: consecutive sentences on three second-degree murder charges and other felonies stemming from the April 2009 crash that killed Adenhart, 22, and friends Courtney Stewart, 20, and Henry Pearson, 25. Jon Wilhite, 24, survived the crash but sustained major injuries.
On the night Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings, Gallo was out drinking with his stepbrother. Just past midnight, he barreled through a red light in Fullerton at 65 mph and rammed his minivan into a vehicle carrying the four friends.
Gallo fled on foot and was captured two miles from the scene. His blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit more than two hours after the crash.
"Not only was he driving under the influence, he was obliterated," the judge said, noting that Gallo was on probation at the time for an earlier drunk driving conviction. "Mr. Gallo, you have devastated four families — really five families with your own."
Indeed, Jon Wilhite, the fourth person in Adenhart's car, shouldn't be alive. The violent collision ripped his skull from his spine, resulting in what doctors call internal decapitation. It is almost always fatal. When Wilhite arrived at the hospital after the savage accident, X-rays and a CAT scan showed that his head was held in place only by muscles and skin. But gentle work by paramedics gave a gifted surgeon the chance to literally screw Wilhite's head back on his body.
Read more: After the Angels' Adenhart Tragedy, Jon Wilhite Survives - TIME
"You're right — I am a horrible person," Gallo told Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey before sentencing. "They had big, bright futures ahead of them. And because of me, they're gone."
Toohey gave prosecutors what they sought: consecutive sentences on three second-degree murder charges and other felonies stemming from the April 2009 crash that killed Adenhart, 22, and friends Courtney Stewart, 20, and Henry Pearson, 25. Jon Wilhite, 24, survived the crash but sustained major injuries.
On the night Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings, Gallo was out drinking with his stepbrother. Just past midnight, he barreled through a red light in Fullerton at 65 mph and rammed his minivan into a vehicle carrying the four friends.
Gallo fled on foot and was captured two miles from the scene. His blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit more than two hours after the crash.
"Not only was he driving under the influence, he was obliterated," the judge said, noting that Gallo was on probation at the time for an earlier drunk driving conviction. "Mr. Gallo, you have devastated four families — really five families with your own."
Indeed, Jon Wilhite, the fourth person in Adenhart's car, shouldn't be alive. The violent collision ripped his skull from his spine, resulting in what doctors call internal decapitation. It is almost always fatal. When Wilhite arrived at the hospital after the savage accident, X-rays and a CAT scan showed that his head was held in place only by muscles and skin. But gentle work by paramedics gave a gifted surgeon the chance to literally screw Wilhite's head back on his body.
Read more: After the Angels' Adenhart Tragedy, Jon Wilhite Survives - TIME
