Drunk Driver Found Guilty Of Murder In Fiery Long Beach Crash
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – A Hawthorne man with a prior DUI conviction was found guilty Wednesday of murder for driving drunk and causing a fiery, wrong-way crash on the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach that killed one motorist and seriously injured another.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated about a day before convicting Alvin Ray Shaw, 29, of charges stemming from the Aug. 1, 2015, crash that killed 30-year-old Miguel Gonzalez of San Pedro.
Shaw is facing at least 15 years to life behind bars, with sentencing set for March 8.
He was convicted of second-degree murder, driving when his privilege was suspended or revoked for a DUI conviction and two DUI counts.
Jurors also found Shaw guilty of two misdemeanor DUI counts and one misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended or revoked license for a June 14, 2015, crash in which his vehicle was struck by another car on the side of a freeway in Pasadena.
Deputy District Attorney Rachel Hardiman told jurors that in the June 2015 crash Shaw was "passed out" when his vehicle was struck on the side of the freeway and that he had no idea why he was there. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.19 -- more than twice the legal limit.
About 1 ½ months later, Shaw drove onto a sidewalk, blew through a barricade and drove the wrong way on the bridge, smashing into vehicles driven by Gonzalez and another unsuspecting motorist, the prosecutor said.
A Long Beach police officer testified he got fire extinguishers from motorists that had stopped nearby to try to douse a fire in Gonzalez's truck and that other officers tried unsuccessfully to pull the man from his vehicle before it was engulfed in flames. Gonzalez died of blunt force trauma before the fire.
A 21-year-old man in the other vehicle that was struck was seriously injured.
Shaw's blood-alcohol content after that crash was measured at 0.20, the prosecutor said.
Shaw -- who had been placed on probation in April 2014 in a DUI case -- had been advised that he could be charged with murder if he drove under the influence and killed someone, Hardiman said.
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