Man sentenced to 42 years to life for deadly Los Angeles car rampage
Dana Feldman, Reuters
First posted: Saturday, September 26, 2015 02:18 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, September 26, 2015 02:27 PM EDT
In this Aug. 6, 2013, file photo, Nathan Louis Campbell, a transient from Colorado, enters Los Angeles Superior Court. The driver who killed an Italian honeymooner and injured pedestrians and peddlers when he barrelled down the popular Venice Beach Boardwalk two years ago acknowledged on Sept. 24, 2015, the nightmare he created and apologized for the physical and emotional anguish caused by his acts. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
LOS ANGELES - A Colorado man who plowed his car through a crowd of pedestrians along the Venice Beach oceanfront two years ago, killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon and injuring 17 others, was sentenced on Friday to a prison term of 42 years to life.
The defendant, Nathan Louis Campbell, 40, insisted up to the moment he was sentenced that the carnage he caused in August 2013 was unintentional, despite his conviction in June by a jury of murder, assault and felony hit-and-run charges.
"I was responsible for a terrible incident that has caused lasting physical pain and mental anguish for several people," Campbell, dressed in orange jail uniform, said in court as he read calmly from a 2 1/2-page handwritten statement.
"This was not an intentional act. It was a horrible accident due to a combined set of circumstances including my own bad judgment, confusion, panic and fear," he told the judge.
Campbell's attorney, James P. Cooper III, acknowledged that his client was behind the wheel of the 2008 Dodge Avenger but said Campbell did everything he could to avoid hitting pedestrians.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathryn Solorzano, who rejected a defence motion for a new trial last month, was not dissuaded.
"This was not an accident," she told Campbell. "Everything that you did on that date was criminal behaviour. You engaged in behaviour that exhibited rage on that day. The impact has been haunting."
Security camera footage from the incident aired on national television showed Campbell's car smashing into a crowd of people on the Venice boardwalk, a major Los Angeles tourist attraction, before it appeared to back up and then drive into another group of people.
Honeymooner Alice Gruppioni, 32, was killed after 15 days of marriage to Christian Casadei.
Reading from one of the victim impact statements in court, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila said: "I saw Alice Gruppioni lying on the ground, bathed in her own blood. I saw her husband find her. I'll never forget his screams. I've heard his screams so many times in my sleep."
Gruppioni's aunt, Katia Gruppioni, made a video impact statement that was played in court, in which she said her family had "been given a life sentence, and that's forever."
Campbell will serve at least 42 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
