Gallo

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Parents of victims wept as guilty verdicts were read for a construction worker accused of killing promising Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends in a drunken-driving crash.

It was the second DUI conviction for Andrew Gallo, 23, who held white rosary beads and occasionally looked up at jurors as they returned their verdicts.

"What this case has shown is that the accelerator, the gas pedal on an automobile in the wrong hands is as dangerous as the trigger on a gun," Nigel Pearson, the father of 25-year-old victim Henry Pearson, said outside court. "And in the wrong hands, it can devastate the lives of many, many people."

Gallo was convicted on three counts of second-degree murder and single counts of drunken driving, hit-and-run driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol and causing great bodily injury.

He faces 50 years to life in state prison at his scheduled sentencing on Dec. 10.

His attorney Jacqueline Goodman said Gallo would appeal.

"I think it's tragic," she told reporters. "I think there's been a miscarriage of justice." She previously said her client did not intend to kill anyone.

Prosecutors said they charged the case as a second-degree murder instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter because Gallo had a previous DUI conviction, had specific knowledge of the dangers of drinking and driving from his own experience, and had signed a court form from the earlier case saying he understood he could be charged with murder if he drove drunk again and killed someone.

To win a murder conviction, prosecutors had to show Gallo acted with implied malice, intentionally drove drunk, acted with a conscious disregard for human life, and knew from his personal experience that he could kill someone.