{"id":23740,"date":"2012-10-26T21:02:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-27T04:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=23740"},"modified":"2012-10-31T09:54:13","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T16:54:13","slug":"man-ordered-to-trial-in-dui-double-murder-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/10\/26\/man-ordered-to-trial-in-dui-double-murder-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Man ordered to trial in DUI double murder case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In the days following the fatal crash, Walmart associates created memorial cards featuring Beau (left) and Jeffrey (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 A 24-year-old man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two Walmart employees must stand trial, a judge ruled Friday.<\/p>\n

Tommie Lee Cole<\/strong> was held to answer on eight felony counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, in connection with a Feb. 26 collision that killed Jeffrey Gilstrap<\/strong>, 23, and Beau Josh Owen Fluker<\/strong>, 26.<\/p>\n

Around 2:26 a.m., Fluker and Gilstrap were carpooling home from a late-night work shift at Walmart when their vehicle collided with Cole\u2019s vehicle at the intersection of 20th Street West and Avenue J in Lancaster.<\/p>\n

During a two-day preliminary hearing that ended Friday, attorneys argued over which party was at fault for the collision.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said a blood sample, taken less than an hour after the crash, put Cole\u2019s blood-alcohol level at .21% — nearly three times the legal limit. Prosecutors also showed a video-taped interview of Cole, which was recorded by investigators in the hours following the crash.<\/p>\n

In the video, Cole said he drank six Budweisers in the eight hours before the crash, while hanging out with friends at the Sunset Ridge Apartments. Cole said he was headed home, going northbound on 20th Street West, when he tried to \u201cbeat\u201d the yellow light at the Avenue J intersection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s yellow, I\u2019m pretty close, so I\u2019m trying to make it through the yellow,\u201d Cole said in the video-taped interview.<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019d made it through the yellow, Cole replied, \u201cApparently not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cole\u2019s defense attorney, J. Nigel Villanueva, said his client was being \u201csarcastic\u201d when he made that statement. Villanueva argued that it was possible that Cole had a yellow light going into the intersection, and that the other party may have caused the collision by speeding and running a red light.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knows who ran the red light and that\u2019s a fact,\u201d Villanueva said.<\/p>\n

A thorough investigation revealed that Gilstrap and Fluker\u2019s vehicle, which was going eastbound on Avenue J, entered the intersection at about 40 miles per hour, testified deputy Mike Politano, of the Lancaster Station’s Traffic Unit.<\/p>\n

The investigation also concluded that Cole was the one who failed to stop for the red light, according to testimony from Traffic Investigator Richard Daley.<\/p>\n

The judge sided with the prosecution, and denied a motion by the defense to dismiss the charges for insufficient evidence. Cole was ordered to stand trial on two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, two counts of driving under the influence and causing injury, and two counts of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or greater and causing injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he didn\u2019t intend to kill anybody, but he chose to get behind the wheel when he was drunk,\u201d said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph Rogers, in rendering his ruling Friday.<\/p>\n

Many family members of Fluker and Gilstrap were in the courtroom Friday. Linda Gilstrap said she was shocked that Cole\u2019s defense attorney thought he could get the charges dismissed, and she was disappointed that Cole seemed unwilling to take responsibility for her son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t seem to really get that the lives of everyone who loves Beau and Jeffrey are permanently changed and we don\u2019t have any choice in the matter,\u201d Gilstrap said. \u201cIf Tommie Lee really got what he\u2019s done, he wouldn\u2019t be expecting to just walk away from this and have the charges dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilstrap said Cole had many options available to him on Feb. 26 that would have prevented her son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have taken a taxi home, he could have slept at his friend\u2019s apartment, he could have called somebody and asked for a ride,\u201d Gilstrap said. \u201cHe had a chance to prevent this, and he didn\u2019t, so he has to face the consequences for what he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

Cole was ordered back to custody on $2 million bail. He is due back in court on Nov. 9 for a second arraignment.<\/p>\n

See previous related articles:<\/p>\n

Hundreds say goodbye to Beau and Jeff<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Man charged with murder in fatal DUI crash, bail set at $2 million<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Family, coworkers remember men lost in alleged DUI crash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Alleged DUI driver kills two in Lancaster<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 A 24-year-old man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two Walmart employees must stand trial, a judge ruled Friday. Tommie Lee Cole was held to answer on eight felony counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, in connection with a Feb. 26 collision that killed Jeffrey Gilstrap, 23, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}