Local News in Brief : Westminster : Jurors Deliberate Ornelas Murder Case
A Superior Court jury began deliberations Tuesday morning on the fate of Danny David Ornelas, 19, who is charged with running down and fatally injuring a mother in Newport Beach last Sept. 1.
The case went to the jury after 2 weeks of testimony, including the showing of a videotape of the incident filmed by a passenger, and final instructions from Judge Luis A. Cardenas.
Ornelas faces up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. The jury also has the option of finding him guilty of vehicular manslaughter, a lesser crime carrying shorter prison sentences.
Ornelas is free on $100,000 bail. As he left the courtroom Tuesday to await the jury verdict, Ornelas responded to a reporter’s questions about how he is feeling: “It’s indescribable. It’s pretty weird.”
Ornelas was the driver of a car that struck and killed Debbie Killelea, 37, as she stood with her two young sons in the alley behind their Ocean Boulevard home on Balboa Peninsula.
Ornelas’ attorney argued during the trial that the collision was an accident. But the prosecutor said it was murder because the young man was speeding and failed to brake when he saw the mother and her sons walking in the alley.
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