Weller sentenced to probation, won't go to jailBy John Spano, Times Staff Writer
3:30 PM PST, November 20, 2006
George Weller, who drove his car through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, killing 10 and injuring 63, was sentenced today to five years probation and will not serve time in prison.
Weller, who will be 90 next month, did not attend the sentencing because he was too ill.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson made it clear that Weller deserved a harsh prison sentence after being convicted on 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter. But Johnson said that little would be served in sending the frail elderly man to jail.
"Today, Mr. Weller stands convicted of 10 serious felonies and he is asking for leniency in sentencing," Johnson said. "Yet, he has never once expressed in court any remorse for his actions.
"I will never understand his stubborn and bullheaded refusal to accept responsibility to put this matter to rest for everyone, including himself," Johnson said.
"George Weller clearly deserves a prison sentence. The devastation that he has caused and the indifference that he has displayed support no other conclusion," the judge said.
"The fact that he deserves prison doesn't mean he should get it," the jurist noted. "I believe the courts need to be practical as well as principled and I don't see any purpose in sending Mr. Weller to jail or prison. It wouldn't do anybody any good."
Weller was sentenced on 10 counts of felony vehicular manslaughter. He could have received up to 18 years in prison.
Johnson also ordered Weller to pay $57,500 for restitution and $44,200 in fines, penalties and fees.
John Wayne Haug, the brother of one of the victims, said the decision was "fair and just" given the "extenuating circumstances" of Weller's ill health.
"I agree with the judge. He really summed it up," Haug said. "If Weller was 25 or 30, it would be different."
Johnson issued the sentence after a morning where his Los Angeles courtroom was filled with anguish and anger as relatives of one of the victims spoke about the vehicular rampage.
Johnson began the proceedings by denying a defense request for a new trial. Then he solemnly read the names of the 10 people who died that day.
For about 40 minutes beginning about 9:20 a.m., the relatives began their often tearful comments.
"Mr. Weller is a coward for not showing up," said Jennifer Weaver, the daughter of Lynne Weaver, one of those who died. "He took my mom's life."
Weaver said she recognized that any prison sentence could mean a life sentence for the man who was 86 on the deadly day, July 16, 2003.
"I will never get to see my mom again. Why should he get to see his family?" she asked.
She and others called on Weller to apologize.
"I should not be here today," said Gretchen Haug, another relative of Lynne Weaver. "There is no excuse for what Mr. Weller has done."
Weller is in a "dreadful depressing place, far more than any state confinement could ever achieve," Weller's attorney, Mark Borenstein, told the judge in asking for mercy in the sentencing. Weller "is already a prisoner of his own remorse and his own grief."
Robert Bone, a nephew, said Weller "is a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather who is now living a life dominated by depression, guilt and despair."
Both stressed that Weller acknowledged his responsibility for the tragic accident and was profoundly sorry.
Weller plowed his 1992 Buick through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market along Arizona Avenue where it crosses the Third Street Promenade.
The toll from the 20-second drive was the largest number of pedestrian fatalities from a traffic accident in California history, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Robert Ashley, a relative of another victim, said today that he suspected that relatives of those who died or were injured would feel some degree of vindication with Weller's sentencing, even though it was probation.
"But it wouldn't take away what happened," he said.
Ashley's grandmother, Shamsi Khani, the matriarch of a large Iranian Jewish family, endured a long convalescence before she died in September of her injuries, just as jury selection was beginning in Weller's trial. She was 92.
Ashley, a Santa Monica doctor, said he understood that it made no sense to put Weller in jail.
"It's at the end of his life," Ashley said. "I think the Weller family members have to deal with their own actions or inactions in not taking away the keys from this man. He was already in previous accidents and they should have admonished him not to drive anymore."
Weller was present for just two hours of his trial and did not attend his sentencing. His doctor said he suffered a seizure last month and has lost memory, sensation in his feet and hands and some bodily functions.
"His absence is not fair and just unless he has a serious medical problem," said Jonathan Raven, a deputy California attorney general and director of the state Office of Victims' Services.
"With Mr. Weller absent, we are depriving the family members of a chance to speak their mind and address him," Raven said. "This goes a long way toward giving the family members and victims some sense of emotional relief."
If he had been sent to prison, Weller would not have been the state's oldest inmate. The eldest is 93 years old, according to the California Department of Corrections.
Weller, who learned to drive in a Model T, has broken his silence only once in three years — within hours of the tragedy, when he expressed remorse for the victims and accepted partial responsibility for the deaths.
In an interrogation secretly videotaped by Santa Monica police, Weller sounded the themes his defense presented at trial. He claimed he had no idea why his car accelerated through the crowded open-air market and insisted he did all he could to stop it.
His account was backed by the California Highway Patrol, which did a five-month investigation, and national highway safety officials. They concluded that Weller suffered from pedal error, and hit the accelerator when he intended to brake. He was confused, he panicked and could not reverse course during his 20-second ride along Arizona Avenue, the reports found.
The former head of the CHP publicly questioned whether Weller should be charged with a crime.
But jurors said they had little trouble finding him guilty on the 10 counts of vehicular felony manslaughter, the most serious crimes charged. They deliberated for more than two weeks in the trial.
The Weller case sparked debate on how well the state tests seniors for deteriorating driving skills and led to several legislative proposals to tighten screening. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is expected to begin a pilot program next month, providing in-depth screening of those older than 75 who seek to renew their driving privileges.
Opening statements kicked off the trial in September.
"This is a case about accepting responsibility and public accountability," Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Ambrose told jurors. "Mr. Weller needs to take responsibility for his actions, and the victims and their families need to come to court and be heard."
In the end, neither defense nor prosecution wanted to give jurors the option of finding Weller guilty of a misdemeanor.
The judge rejected the all-or-nothing alternative and instructed jurors that they could find Weller guilty of misdemeanor manslaughter. Jurors rejected that option, finding Weller guilty of the more serious charges.
After the verdict, Ambrose repeatedly said her office would not take a position on punishment. In their most recent court papers, prosecutors praised a probation recommendation that Weller, "if even for a minimal amount of time, should be committed to the California state prison system." But it withheld any recommendation.
California law confers on victims the right to "appear at the sentencing hearing and to speak on matters concerning the crime, the penalty and the need for restitution," according to the state attorney general's office. About half a dozen victims gave prosecutors advance notice that they planned to speak.
Since California voters passed the Victim's Bill of Rights in 1982, crime victims have been given additional rights, including notification of sentencing and parole hearings and access to the state's recommendations for sentencing.
Raven, who was a prosecutor before joining the attorney general's office, said he had never heard of a defendant not showing up for sentencing, except those who flee. Victims speak for the benefit of the judge — and themselves, he said.
"The therapeutic ability to make a statement and to talk to the judge, the public and to the defendant, this is part of the process of coping with this tragedy, and part of the healing process," Raven said.
john.spano@latimes.comStaff writers Michael Muskal and Martha Groves contributed to this story.
