A state appellate court panel Tuesday upheld the murder conviction of a former Camp Pendleton Marine who drove drunk and caused a wrong-way crash that killed a motorcyclist in Fallbrook.
Adam Daniel Barooshian, 30, was convicted in two separate trials for the New Year’s Day 2019 crash that killed 29-year-old Christopher Williams of Oceanside. At the time of the crash, Barooshian was on probation for a prior DUI offense, which prompted prosecutors to charge him with murder.
In Barooshian’s first trial, a Vista jury convicted him of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, and driving with a suspended license, but was unable to reach a consensus on the second-degree murder charge. A retrial led to Barooshian’s conviction for murder, and he was sentenced in 2022 to 15 years to life in state prison.
According to prosecutors, Barooshian was speeding eastbound on the westbound side of State Route 76 near Via Monserate shortly before 4 a.m. when his Lexus IS 300 hit Williams, who died at the scene.
On appeal, Barooshian argued that his second trial violated double jeopardy protections — which prohibit trying a person twice for the same offense — because gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated should be considered a lesser included offense of a DUI-related murder. A lesser included offense is a crime that includes some of the same elements of a more serious crime.
A three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal disagreed, stating that gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated contains different elements than murder, which can be charged for a driver who isn’t intoxicated, but is driving recklessly and kills someone.
The panel wrote that under Barooshian’s argument, juries could acquit someone of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated if there are questions regarding the driver’s level of intoxication, but the defendant couldn’t be retried later for murder if they were allegedly driving recklessly.
After the crash, Barooshian’s blood-alcohol content was measured at .18% — more than twice the legal limit for driving in California.
Williams, a father of two sons who were 8 and 5 years old at the time, was on his way home from his job as a security guard and emergency medical technician at Pauma Casino, according to the Oceanside Police Officers’ Association.
–City News Service