Driver, 26, to Stand Trial for Murder in Traffic Deaths

A 26-year-old Lancaster man on Tuesday was ordered to stand trial on four counts of second-degree murder in connection with a wrong-way collision on the Ventura Freeway that killed four.

After two days of testimony, Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Robert H. Wallerstein ruled that there is sufficient evidence to try Daniel E. Murray, an equipment operator, for murder in the Dec. 11 crash.

The usual charge in alcohol-related traffic deaths is vehicular manslaughter. But prosecutors can bring murder charges if they can show that the driver was aware of the danger he posed to others.

In arguing for the more serious charge, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert H. McIntosh cited testimony that Murray was alert enough shortly before the accident to order a hamburger and french fries, and to argue about the price.

McIntosh also contended that Murray’s three previous misdemeanor convictions for alcohol-related driving offenses “certainly alerted him to the dangers of drunk driving.”

One prosecution witness said that Murray appeared to wait for a break in traffic before making a U-turn on the freeway at Kanan Road shortly before the crash.

Murray’s attorney, Charles R. English, argued that his client was too drunk “to know what was going on” and thus should not be charged with murder.

California Highway Patrol officers said Murray’s blood-alcohol reading, taken an hour after the 10:10 p.m. crash, was .19%, nearly twice the .10% level at which a person is presumed to be drunk.

Witnesses said Murray was traveling east about 75 m.p.h. in the westbound lanes when the crash occurred.

The victims were the mother, brother, grandfather and girlfriend of Jamaal Brown, a 17-year-old basketball player at Buena High School in Ventura. Brown came upon the scene of the crash while riding home in a team bus from a game in Beverly Hills that his family had attended.

All the victims died in their car at the scene of the accident, but Murray, in a pickup truck, was only slightly injured.

Murray, who faces 15 years to life in prison on the murder charge, will be arraigned in Superior Court May 19.