For 25 minutes Monday, a judge attacked George Russell Weller's "enormous indifference" and "unbelievable callousness" in running down and killing 10 pedestrians in a Santa Monica open-air market. The 89-year-old deserved prison for his crime, the judge said.
But in the end, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson placed Weller on probation, finding that his age and poor health undercut any value to imprisonment.
"Mr. Weller deserves to go to prison, but because of and only because of his rapidly declining health, I will place him on probation," Johnson said in a withering critique of Weller's behavior during and after the 2003 crash.
Johnson's ruling closed an emotionally charged legal drama that focused attention on the issue of driving by senior citizens.
Weller was not present for the hearing and one victim called him a coward for not facing those he had harmed.
Survivors of Weller's victims wept in court. Injured victims and family members of those killed also gathered in Santa Monica, where some expressed dissatisfaction with the sentencing and the trial.
"It's not closure for me," said Lily Hoffman, whose 78-year-old father, Movsha, died in the crash. Her mother, Esther, now 77, who was at his side, was seriously injured. "I'm not satisfied at all." Weller "was grossly negligent. This trial accomplished nothing."
The toll from Weller's 20-second drive through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on July 16, 2003 -- 78 people killed or injured -- included the highest number of pedestrian fatalities from a traffic accident in California history.
The defense said the tragedy was a terrible accident, caused when Weller lost control of his 1992 Buick after he mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal. But Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley consistently held that it was a crime that should be punished.
Johnson said Weller "has never once expressed in court any remorse for his actions. I will never understand his stubborn and bullheaded refusal to accept responsibility to put this matter to rest for everyone, including himself."
Defense attorney Mark Borenstein said that Weller has apologized repeatedly, most recently on Sunday, is sincerely remorseful and thinks every day about the tragedy.
The defense did not try to argue senility or other mental deterioration as a factor. In his remarks, Johnson said older drivers had the same responsibility to control their vehicles as other motorists.
