Wrong-Way Drunk Driver Gets 30 Years to Life in Fatal Crash

A 28-year-old Lancaster man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years to life in prison for driving the wrong way on the Ventura Freeway while drunk, causing a head-on crash that killed four people, three of them from the same family.

By present parole procedures, the sentence will keep him behind bars until he is at least 50--and perhaps more than 60--years old, prosecutors said.

“I can say in all honesty that this is the most difficult sentencing decision I have had to make as a judge,” said Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz before sentencing Daniel E. Murray to two consecutive terms of 15 years to life in prison.

Murray was convicted by a jury July 5 of four counts of second-degree murder and two counts of felony drunk driving for the Dec. 11, 1986, crash that killed Suzanne Brown, 37; her son, Jonah, 7; her father, Jack Rawls, 69; and Dia Rae Rounds, 16, all of Ventura.

After consuming an estimated 19 beers at lunch and at an office party the afternoon and evening before the crash, Murray got lost on his way home and drove his pickup truck erratically on the westbound Ventura Freeway. He then made a U-turn into oncoming traffic and drove for at least three miles at speeds estimated at 50 to 75 m.p.h. before striking Brown’s car head-on near Liberty Canyon Road in Agoura.

The tragedy was compounded when Brown’s son, Jamaal, riding on a bus with fellow members of the Buena High School basketball team, saw his mother’s wrecked Honda Accord surrounded by ambulances.

Jamaal’s family and Rounds, his girlfriend, were returning from the school’s basketball game in Beverly Hills when the accident occurred.

Murray, whose blood-alcohol level after the accident was measured at 0.19--nearly twice the legal limit--suffered minor neck injuries.

The 30-year term was for the deaths of Suzanne Brown and Rounds. Stoltz sentenced Murray to two additional concurrent terms of 15 years on the remaining murder counts and two concurrent 2-year terms for the drunk driving charges. Murray was given credit of 897 days for time already served and work he has performed in jail.

Murray will be eligible for parole in 20 years, but under the formula now used by the Board of Prison Terms, he is unlikely to be released for 33 years, said the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Rabichow.

Charles R. English, one of Murray’s two attorneys, said the board is likely to hold Murray several years longer than that. By contrast, the same conviction a few years ago would probably have drawn only a four-year sentence, English said.

English said Murray will appeal.

Stoltz had discretion to sentence Murray to as much as 60 years in prison--15 years for each second-degree murder count--or as little as probation.

Stoltz said she hoped the stiff sentence would send a message to the public that “the death and destruction that is caused by drunk drivers on our highways must stop.” It also may bring peace of mind to relatives of the Browns, Rawls and Rounds, the judge said.

She noted that two months before the fatal crash, Murray told friends that he had blacked out on his way home from a party and woke up in his car on the wrong side of a winding mountain road.

In addition, Murray had attended drunk-driving awareness courses after two convictions for drunk driving, she noted.

Fired After Accident

Murray, who was fired from his job as an equipment operator at Northrop after the accident, showed no emotion as Stoltz pronounced sentence. Rounds’ mother, Coleen Allen, also watched.

Stoltz heard pleas for leniency from Murray, his wife and father and a County Jail chaplain who said Murray attends Bible study sessions and counsels other inmates about his experiences with drinking and driving.

Murray told a courtroom packed with friends and relatives that he is “very, very sorry” for causing the crash and added, “Maybe someday you can forgive me.”

Murray’s wife, Sharon, described him as a “very good husband and a great father” to their son, Wesley, 2.

“It’s so hard for Wesley now. Wesley misses him so much,” Sharon Murray said, breaking into tears. “We visit him every Saturday at the jail.”

English asked for a sentence of 15 years to life with the other three counts to run concurrently, saying Murray would still be spending most of his adult life in jail.

‘Tragic Situation’

“This is a tragic situation. Daniel Murray is at fault. He caused this accident,” English said. But, he added, “Nothing the court can do to Danny Murray can bring anyone back.”

Murray has joined Alcoholics Anonymous in prison and has become a born-again Christian while in jail, English said.

But Rabichow sought a 30-year sentence, arguing that it would serve as a deterrent to other drunk drivers. He argued that Murray knew he had a drinking problem and displayed a conscious disregard for human life by driving drunk.

English contended Murray was too drunk at the time of the crash to know his actions endangered the lives of others. The effects of the alcohol were exacerbated by brain damage caused by a head injury Murray suffered at age 13, he contended.