Man in Car Chase Guilty of Murder in Collision of Copters

An Orange County jury, deciding that Vincent William Acosta knew the possible hazards when he led police on a frenzied car chase in 1987, found the Anaheim man guilty Thursday of murdering three men in the collision of two pursuing police helicopters.

While murder verdicts have been returned previously in the deaths of pedestrians and other motorists killed during car chases, the Acosta jury broke new ground in finding that a blatantly reckless driver can be held criminally responsible for causing the deaths of airborne victims as well.

“I think it’s an awful precedent to find murder in a case like this,” said defense attorney William G. Kelley, who tried to convince jurors that pilot error was to blame for the March 10, 1985, helicopter crash that left two Costa Mesa police officers and a third man dead. Kelley said the verdict will be appealed.

“I feel terrible. I feel awful. I don’t think this was murder,” Kelley said. “I don’t think I will ever think this was a murder case.”

The 21-year-old Acosta shook his head slowly in seeming disbelief as the court clerk announced the verdict in a Santa Ana courtroom. Bowing his head, the defendant appeared near tears. Although his family had attended much of the weeklong trial, they were not in attendance for Thursday’s verdict.

But his attorney said, “We knew when the jury came back in four hours what the verdict was going to be, so he was prepared for it.”

Acosta was convicted in the deaths of Costa Mesa Police Officers James D. Ketchum, 39, and John W. Libolt, 39, as well as Jeffrey A. Pollard, 29, a civilian observer from Tustin. Their helicopter, the Eagle, was in pursuit of Acosta above Irvine when it gave up the lead in the chase to another police helicopter from Newport Beach.

Acosta, who did not take the stand in his defense, faces 45 years to life in prison on the second degree murder counts when he is sentenced June 30 by Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald.

The 12 jurors, leaving the courtroom in virtually complete silence, refused to discuss the reasoning behind their verdict. Remarked one woman: “It was a hard decision. . . . That’s all I can say.”

“We followed the law,” said several other jurors, all of whom declined to be identified.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris, commenting on the potential precedent set by the jury in its verdict, said: “The principle that a person has to be held accountable for the danger he causes has always existed in the law.

“It’s just nice to see now that we’re finally moving into the 21st Century by realizing that police use both air and ground pursuit vehicles,” Borris said.

The key factual elements of the case remained virtually undisputed over the course of the trial.

After stealing a car on the night of March 10, 1987, Acosta led police on a wild, 45-minute chase throughout the county that reached reported speeds of 90 m.p.h. Driving without headlights, he ran through red lights, disobeyed traffic signs and at times drove on the wrong side of the road.

About 12 minutes into the chase, the two police helicopters collided in the skies above Irvine, the first such crash in the state’s history. Costa Mesa Officers Ketchum and Libolt, and observer Pollard died in a fiery crash when their helicopter turned over the chase to a Newport Beach police helicopter, but then inexplicably doubled back and hit the second aircraft. Investigators have not been able to determine why the Costa Mesa helicopter, a Hughes 500E, changed course.

Two Newport Beach police officers escaped serious injury when they successfully landed their aircraft, a Hughes 300C helicopter.

In closing summations this week, the prosecutor and defense attorney in the case used those facts to offer jurors widely diverging legal theories about Acosta’s responsibility in the mishap.

State courts have generally held that a person can be held criminally responsible--and convicted of murder--for the deaths of pursuing police officers, pedestrians or other motorists that result from the driver’s utter recklessness and disregard for safety.

But the Acosta case may be the first to seek to extend that theory to the skies.