Driver Guilty of Murder in O.C. Copter Deaths

An Orange County jury decided that Vincent William Acosta knew the possible hazards when he led police on a frenzied car chase in 1987 and found him 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 motorists killed on the ground during such chases, the Acosta jury broke new legal 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 a stunned Deputy Public Defender William G. Kelley, who tried to convince jurors that pilot error was to blame for the March 10, 1987, helicopter crash that left two Costa Mesa police officers and a third man dead.

“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.”

In Seeming Disbelief

The 21-year-old Acosta shook his head slowly in seeming disbelief as the court clerk announced the three second-degree murder verdicts 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 4 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.

The three died when their helicopter hit the Newport Beach aircraft from behind, then crashed to the ground and erupted into flames. The second helicopter made a successful emergency landing, and the two Newport Beach officers aboard escaped serious injury.

Acosta, who did not take the stand in his own defense, could face 45 years to life in prison on the murder counts when he is sentenced June 30 by Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald. Kelley said the verdict will be appealed.

The 12 jurors, leaving the courtroom in 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.”

The key 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 miles per hour. 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. Ketchum and Libolt had turned the chase over 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 changed course.

In closing summations this week, the prosecutor and defense attorney offered jurors widely diverging legal theories about Acosta’s responsibility in the mishap.

State courts have generally ruled 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 is the first known in the state, and possibly the nation, to extend that theory to the skies.

Kelley argued that that distinction alone means Acosta should have been cleared of murder charges because he could not reasonably be expected to foresee that his reckless driving could result in the deaths of the three men.

“It would be stupid and absurd of me to stand here before you and argue that it’s safe and OK to drive 90 miles an hour for 40 miles through Orange County,” Kelley told jurors.

“I’m not here to defend (Acosta’s) character. And I’m not here to tell you he didn’t do Borris maintained, however, that Acosta realized the dangers of driving at high speeds without headlights. Borris argued that Acosta decided to take the risk anyway, causing the crash and making him guilty of murder.

“Had he pulled over when he heard the sirens and saw the red lights (at the outset of the pursuit), no one would have died that night,” Borris said. “The most telling evidence that we have that Mr. Acosta performed the dangerous acts in conscious disregard for human life are his own words.”

After the crash, Acosta reportedly told police, “Yeah, I knew it was dangerous--to the bone” but said he continued his attempted escape anyway because he wanted to get home and feared going to jail, Borris said.

Kelley had sought to suppress Acosta’s statements to police on the grounds that they were given unwillingly after investigators intimidated him into talking. But Judge Fitzgerald ruled that the statements could be heard by the jury.

At Kelley’s request, however, Fitzgerald did exclude from the trial portions of Acosta’s statements in which he indicated that he had drunk beer and taken PCP, heroine and cocaine hours before the fatal crash.

The Costa Mesa helicopter was last seen flying in the opposite direction from the chase but--for reasons still largely unknown--apparently reversed direction and ended up ramming the Newport aircraft from behind.

There was no radio contact before the collision, a point Kelley highlighted for jurors in blaming the accident on pilot error.