Jury Finds Dealer Guilty of Murder in Fatal Accident

A drug dealer involved in a fatal traffic accident while fleeing from police was convicted Friday of second-degree murder, an unusually tough verdict for a traffic death in which intoxication was not a factor.

Luis Carlos Escobar, 27, faces a 15-year-to-life prison term. He is to be sentenced Feb. 26.

“He knew what he was doing was dangerous and life threatening, and he didn’t care,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Goethals. “When he killed somebody with that kind of conduct, the jury said it was murder.”

On Jan. 9, 1986, Escobar and an accomplice attempted to sell a kilogram of cocaine for $40,000 to state undercover agents at an Anaheim restaurant. When he realized the buyers were police officers, Escobar fled in a Jaguar on the Santa Ana Freeway at speeds estimated in excess of 100 m.p.h.

He pulled off the freeway at Lincoln Avenue and crashed into a stationary car driven by David Jon Vaca, a 23-year-old insurance salesman and Cal State Fullerton graduate who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Defense lawyer Ronald P. Kreber, who agreed with Goethals that the Escobar verdict is one of a handful of its kind ever returned in California, said he would appeal.

“What is unusual about this case is that the jury found him guilty using a traditional murder theory, which requires a finding of malice,” Goethals said.

The prosecutor recognized that the killing was not intentional but argued to jurors that they could find evidence of malice in the extreme recklessness with which Escobar drove.

Cocaine Conviction

Jurors deliberated just four hours Friday before returning the verdict in the courtroom of Orange County Superior Court Judge Leonard Goldstein.

Escobar, of Costa Mesa, also was convicted of cocaine sales and conspiracy to distribute the drug.

Escobar was convicted in 1982 in Florida of felony conspiracy to sell cocaine. He served two years in prison, according to court records.

“The message we would hope that would go out is that if you operate a motor vehicle in such a reckless manner as to threaten everybody on the highways, you may find yourself convicted of murder,” Goethals said.