TPHS senior sentenced in connection with fatal rollover accident

By Marsha Sutton

The Torrey Pines High School student who pleaded guilty last month to the felony crimes of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and inflicting great bodily injury was sentenced last week to a maximum of 547 days at Camp Barrett Youth Correctional Center in east San Diego County.
At the disposition hearing in San Diego County Juvenile Court on Dec. 10, Judge George Clarke agreed with the prosecution’s case, presented by deputy district attorney Aimee McLeod, that the boy should receive the sentence recommended by the county Probation Department for his role as the driver in a fatal rollover crash in Rancho Santa Fe on Oct. 4 that killed one passenger and seriously injured another.
At the hearing, McLeod questioned witness Leticia Bombardier, a senior probation officer with the county, who testified that the probation department’s recommendation of 547 days at Camp Barrett was based on an in-depth review of the case, which uncovered a repeated pattern of alcohol abuse.
The probation report, delivered to the court last month, stated that the TPHS senior said he began drinking in ninth grade and consumed alcohol about twice a month. He also admitted to occasional marijuana use.
The report included an initial drug test that identified opiates – in the form of heroin, morphine or codeine – in the driver’s system at the time of the accident. But it was revealed at the hearing last week that subsequent testing found no presence of opiates in his blood.
Defense attorney Robert Grimes questioned whether the probation department’s recommendation was based in any way on this false lab report. Grimes referred to a section of the report that indicated that “the parents seemed to be in denial” over the boy’s apparent drug use. He suggested that their shock was natural, given that the lab test results were wrong.
Grimes asked the witness, “Morphine didn’t have any significance in the report’s conclusion?” Bombardier said it did not.
McLeod stated that her support of the maximum sentence was undeterred by the news that no illegal drugs were found in the teenager’s blood, contrary to initial tests.
“It doesn’t change the case,” she said. “Somebody died and somebody else was seriously injured as a result of his actions.”
McLeod described to the court the events on the night of Oct. 3 and the early morning hours of Oct. 4 that led to the death of Alex Capozza and seriously injured Jamie Arnold, fellow students at Torrey Pines High School.
She said the 17-year-old driver, according to witnesses, arrived at a party in Rancho Santa Fe, where there was alcohol and no adult supervision, around 10 p.m., “where he stayed and drank.”
The minor and four other passengers, the other two uninjured, left around 1:15 a.m. on Oct. 4 to “make a food run,” she said. The driver intended to return to the party.
A photo of the twisting road where McLeod said the accident occurred showed tire marks crossing the double yellow line, a demolished portion of a fence that was hit by the car, and the wrecked car with a fence pole through the smashed front windshield. She said the car, which was speeding, rolled three or four times, hit a rock and then a tree.
“When you’re going 79 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone, it’s incredibly negligent,” she said.
The teen’s blood alcohol level was 0.11 hours after the crash, leading McLeod to estimate that it was 0.13 or 0.14 when he got into his car three hours after arriving at the party – “almost twice the legal limit for an adult,” she said.
“At 0.13, most people would be on the floor, but he was acting normal,” McLeod said. “That means he’s built up a tolerance. There is something seriously wrong with that.”
She said he would have had to consume eight or nine alcoholic drinks in those three hours to reach that level of impairment.
Besides choosing to drink, he made other bad decisions, McLeod said – violating an 11 p.m. curfew, choosing to drive, taking four passengers with him, and not ensuring that all riders were wearing seatbelts.
There was some evidence presented that no one involved in the crash called 9-1-1, although this was disputed by Grimes, who said one of the boys in the car had tried to call 9-1-1 but was told that emergency crews had already been notified and help was on the way.
McLeod asserted that the three calls made to 9-1-1 came from a nearby resident, another driver who arrived after the accident happened, and a minor not involved in the crash who refused to give his name.
“His concern was to cover up,” McLeod said, of the drunk driver. The boy begged another driver who came upon the scene of the accident to take responsibility and asked for gum to mask the alcohol on his breath, she said.
His first official statement to authorities, she said, was to blame the car for having bald tires, even though it was a relatively new 2008 Mazda.
Letters on his behalf
McLeod told the judge that she had read the many letters written on the boy’s behalf asking for leniency in sentencing, some reportedly from Torrey Pines High School teachers, the boy’s TPHS counselor and Torrey Pines boys lacrosse coach John Principi.
Many of the letters cited his intelligence and promise. McLeod agreed, saying, “This young man is very bright.” But she added, “He’s smart and knew better.” She referenced the many classes and programs on the dangers of drinking and driving that are offered at Torrey Pines High School.
“This type of lifestyle seems normal to him,” she said. “He’s been doing it for the last three years and didn’t see it as a problem.”
McLeod argued for the maximum as recommended by the probation report. “If we let him walk out, we do him a great disservice,” she said, referring to the substance abuse counseling and sobriety programs provided at Camp Barrett. “I ask that you hold this minor accountable.”
Defense attorney Grimes spoke briefly, saying that the TPHS driver admitted guilt in the DUI offense and “wants the court to know that he will accept any judgment” imposed on him.
But the false lab report about morphine in his system “weighed heavily on him,” Grimes said. And his client was troubled at the probation report’s conclusion that he ignored the condition of his friends immediately after the accident. “He did help his friends,” Grimes said.
The teen’s attorney expressed concern about the limited opportunities for higher education at Camp Barrett where he said most offenders are reading at a third- or fourth-grade level. He said his client, an avid reader, is extremely bright and had aspirations of attending college next fall.
Grimes argued, unsuccessfully, that the youth’s home, under the care and supervision of his mother, would be a better environment for serving out a sentence than “taking up resources” at Camp Barrett where juveniles, some of whom are gang members, lack motivation to change.
Camp Barrett Youth Correctional Center in Alpine houses mostly 16- and 17-year-old boys. It serves as an alternative for juveniles who have committed serious offenses and who might otherwise have been sentenced to California Youth Authority.
The facility, located 60 miles from downtown San Diego on the site of Barrett Lake, provides training and skills for successful reintegration into society. Education is mandatory, and programs focus on accountability and responsibility, as well as life skills. Confinement serves both punitive and rehabilitative purposes.
The sentence of 547 days is the maximum amount of time the offender could serve; the minimum is 283 days. He will reappear in court next Dec. 9, likely on probation by then, for a review of his case.
A graveyard of memories
In the courtroom for the emotional hearing were the minor’s family, his pastor, Alex Capozza’s parents, the three surviving TPHS passengers of the crash (Jamie Arnold still wearing a neck brace) and their family members.
Alex’s father, Michael Capozza, addressed the judge and read a statement to the court.
“Alex’s death has forever changed our lives,” he said. “… College applications sit untouched in his empty bedroom, no need to fill them out now or ever.
“We hate being in our own home – a place once filled with love and joy has been reduced to a graveyard of memories. If it weren’t for our daughter Anika, my wife Vivian and I would simply cease to function.”
He spoke directly to the offender when he said that many teens have relayed stories of the minor’s drinking and driving history, since the accident happened.
“Some offered anecdotes of the many times they felt it necessary to take your car keys when you were drunk but intending to drive …,” he said.
These confessions, he said, “paint a disturbing picture about the moral values of our youth. All the individuals mentioned above have refused to come forward and speak the truth to investigators ...”
Capozza asked the court not to consider leniency, saying the crime “deserves a formal and lengthy incarcerated rehabilitation … with the opportunity for serious and prolonged reflection on personal responsibility and integrity along with intensive rehabilitation efforts for substance abuse.”
He asked the boy, who was handcuffed during the proceedings, to devote time upon his release to educating others to the dangers of drinking and driving.
Capozza closed by saying, “This is your second chance, an opportunity that Alex will never receive. You have ended Alex’s life, and must now pay the consequences. In so doing, I hope you find the strength to attempt to save the lives of others.”
The driver, held in Juvenile Hall since the accident, was allowed to speak. His voice broke as he said, “I feel terrible. I never expect to receive forgiveness for what I’ve done.”
This newspaper has a policy of not identifying by name minors accused of a crime.
After all statements and arguments were made, a somber Judge Clarke pronounced sentencing.
He said it was “deeply troubling about the drinking. It reflects a moral decay in our society.”
Referring to the past history of alcohol abuse, he said it shocked him that the pattern began at the age of 15. To the teen, he said it was “your choice to drink, and it wasn’t the first time.”
Clarke said he initially thought the 547 days at Camp Barrett was too harsh a sentence, but changed his mind after hearing all the evidence – including the claims that the youth refused to take responsibility for his actions, which seemed to weigh heavily on the judge’s decision.
He told the offender that the time served at Camp Barrett would give him time to reflect on his crime and “think about it in your own mind and heart.”
At the end of the disposition, which lasted over an hour, Clarke said he was disturbed by the case. “But for the grace of God there could have been five people dead in that car,” he said.
Marsha Sutton can be reached at: SuttComm@san.rr.com.