Fatal Crash Blamed on Road, Car

The court-appointed attorney for a Glendale man accused of killing four pedestrians while driving drunk told jurors Monday that an improperly designed intersection and a defective car were to blame.

In his opening statement on the fifth day of the manslaughter trial of William Conway, Deputy Public Defender Michael Allensworth contended that although his client had been drinking and was speeding, he was not grossly negligent when he drove into a group of five pedestrians waiting on a traffic island to cross the street, killing four and injuring another.

Allensworth’s opening statement in Pasadena Superior Court came shortly after jurors watched a graphic police videotape of the scene, showing three of the victims’ bodies.

Conway, 28, a former Glendale parks and recreation worker, is charged with four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of causing an accident with injuries while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Patricia Carr, 36; her daughter, Caren, 6; Valerie Cramer, 32, and her daughter, Brianna, 9, all of Glendale, were killed on July 13, 1988, at Canada Boulevard and Verdugo Road in Glendale. Billy Cramer, now 13, survived with a fractured finger.

Allensworth said he would prove that the slope of the road, the lack of protective signs and guardrails at the intersection and the tendency of Conway’s car to swerve unpredictably caused the accident.

The island, at the time made of dirt and gravel, has since been renovated by city workers, with guardrails, a concrete curb and traffic signals added at the intersection.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Rogan rested his case Monday after showing the tape. Law enforcement officials testified last week that Conway had at least a 0.10% blood-alcohol level and was traveling nearly 80 m.p.h. in a 35-m.p.h. zone when he hit the pedestrians, who were returning home after an evening stroll. At the time of the accident, it was illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10% or higher. That level was reduced Jan. 1 to 0.08%.

Warren Best, a technician with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, testified that blood and breath-analysis tests taken within two hours of the accident measured Conway’s blood-alcohol level at 0.14% and 0.15%. Best told jurors that according to his calculations, Conway’s level was above the legal limit when he hit the pedestrians.

Despite that testimony, Allensworth said Monday that he would prove Conway was not legally drunk during the accident. His first witness, Henry Greenberg, a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s technician, told jurors that the analysis tests indicated Conway’s blood-alcohol level was on the rise and that the defendant became legally intoxicated some time after he struck the group.