California Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
A California wrongful death accident on the 101 freeway in San Bruno, California, has resulted in the conviction of a man from San Jose, who was intoxicated at the time of the crash. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Louis Sale consumed 16 shots of liquor before rear ending another vehicle on the 101 freeway, southbound, in San Bruno. The impact was so severe that the occupant of the other vehicle, Vivaldo Braga Veloso, Jr., from Burlingame, California, was killed in the accident.
Because Sale was intoxicated at the time of the 101 freeway accident, he was convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter, meaning he can go to prison for up to 10 years. The jury has not yet decided on the charge of second degree murder. If convicted of the second degree murder, Sale will face a much more serious penalty of 15 years to life in prison.
In a strange legal twist, the jury did not decide on all of the counts against Sale at one time. Because one juror had to leave for a previously scheduled vacation, the judge allowed the ruling on only some of the counts, then excusing that juror, to be replaced for an alternate juror for deliberations on the murder charge.
In this case, the family of Mr. Veloso may have already made a California wrongful death claim against Sale and his insurance. Unfortunately, in many such situations, the person who causes the accident does not have enough insurance coverage to cover the extensive wrongful death damages, which can be millions of dollars. It is important to hire a top California wrongful death lawyer to investigate the incident and to help determine what can be recovered for the family of the victim.
Our experienced wrongful death lawyers handle wrongful death claims all over California and can be called 1-866-INJURY2 [1-866-465-8792] or emailed [info@walchlaw.com] any time for a free consultation. Our sincerest condolences go out to the family of Mr. Veloso.