Lawyer Asks Jury to Rule Manslaughter in 4 Deaths

An attorney for a Lancaster man ccused of killing four people while driving the wrong way on the Ventura Freeway asked a jury Monday to find his client guilty of vehicular manslaughter, not of second-degree murder.

Attorney Charles R. English said Daniel E. Murray, 27, was too drunk to know what he was doing at the time of the accident. Murray--charged with four counts of second-degree murder, one count of vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony drunk driving--is on trial in Van Nuys Superior Court.

“Danny Murray was . . . in a brownout state at the time of the accident,” English said in closing arguments. “No one drives the wrong way in the fast lane of the freeway if they know what they’re doing. No one.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow urged the jury to find Murray guilty of second-degree murder. Rabichow argued that Murray was aware that he was posing a threat to human life--but did not care--when he got behind the wheel before the Dec. 11, 1986, crash in Agoura.

Murray’s pickup truck collided head-on with a car, killing its driver, Suzanne Brown, 37, and its passengers, her son Jonah Brown, 7, her father, Jack Rawls, 69, and Dia Rae Rounds, 16, all of Ventura.

To prove second-degree murder, Rabichow must convince the jury that Murray was aware of the danger he posed to others but did not care. To prove the manslaughter charge, the jury would have to find only that Murray should have known it would be hazardous to drink and drive.

Murray’s lawyers, English and Audrey Winograde, do not dispute that Murray caused the crash or that he was drunk at the time. But they contend he had no idea that his actions endangered the lives of others.

They contend that Murray’s drinking was compounded by his use of an amphetamine the day before the crash and by brain damage caused by a head injury he suffered at age 13.

But Rabichow told the jury there is no evidence that Murray suffered brain damage. The prosecutor said that Murray was aware enough of what he was doing to find his way to the freeway and to stop and order food from a fast-food restaurant before the crash.