Opening statements were heard Tuesday in the trial of a U. S. Marine veteran accused of driving drunk and killing two UCSD medical school students in a wrong-way crash on State Route 163.
Prosecutors say Jason Riley King drove drunk the night of May 16, 2015, despite multiple attempts by friends, a bar employee and bar patrons to stop him.
They say King, after being escorted out of In Cahoots in Mission Valley by security, made his way into oncoming lanes of SR-163 in his lifted Ford F-150 truck and struck a Toyota Prius head-on killing 24-year-old Anne Li Baldock and 23-year-old Madison Elizabeth Cornwell.
The prosecution opened the trial telling about King's attendance at two military-sponsored events geared toward teaching the dangers of drinking and driving, one of which was just eight days before the deadly crash.
When asked why he took off in his car despite his recent attendance at the seminars and multiple pleas to hand over his keys from friends prior to the crash, King told a judge it was because he was "ignorant."
King pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and other related charges in February of last year.
His defense agreed with the prosecution's assertion that King was solely responsible for the crash, but said that the murder charges were too severe.
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Three other passengers of the Prius, fellow UCSD students and friends of the two women killed, were injured in the crash. They spoke at length in court on Tuesday about the challenges they've faced since the accident. One victim spoke of how memory loss and memory retention issues stemming from the collision have hindered his learning and performance during grueling medical school coursework.
"Basically, being able to remember, memory, is definitely a very serious component that has been injured," the victim said. "Obviously, in medical school, the amount of information that I need to learn is going to be a very large amount, and that has been significantly more challenging since the accident."
Despite their injuries, all three victims have since returned or completed their medical school curriculum.
