Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Bicyclist

EL CAJON, Calif. -- An unemployed drifter with a history of drunken driving convictions was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison for an alcohol-related hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist in Alpine.
Travis Chris Weber, 44, pleaded guilty May 26 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and admitted an allegation of hit-and-run causing death.The 5 p.m. collision in the bicycle lane on eastbound Alpine Boulevard last Dec. 2 killed Edward Costa, a 30-year-old self-employed construction worker and father of two.Weber was taken into custody two days later.California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Edwards testified during a Jan. 21 preliminary hearing that when he searched a silver Ford F-150 belonging to the defendant, he found three empty half-pint bottles of vodka in the cab and seven empty beer cans in the bed of the vehicle.Edwards said he questioned Weber the night he was arrested outside the Liars' Club Tavern and Grill in Alpine. The defendant told him he had been on a drinking binge for five days and woke up in Campo hours after the collision and had no idea how he got there, the officer said.After his arrest, Weber had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent, authorities said.San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Joseph Sprecco testified that people who attended a memorial gathering at the crash site spotted the pickup truck in the parking lot across the street.CHP Officer Sid Turner said green paint from the victim's mountain bike was found on a bumper of the truck, and debris found at the scene -- specifically a broken headlight -- matched what remained on the truck.A woman testified that Weber rear-ended her about 20 minutes before the fatal crash, and that he became angry and screamed at her while they were exchanging information.Edwards said a witness told him he saw Weber drive away quickly from the fender-bender. The witness said the pickup went into the opposing traffic lanes and then over-corrected to the embankment.Weber had previous DUI convictions in New York and San Diego, said Deputy District Attorney Gordon Davis.

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Charges filed in fatal hit-run involving local cyclist

SAN DIEGO — Charges have been filed in an Illinois hit-and-run accident that killed a Chula Vista bicyclist who was on a cross-country ride to protest government bailouts.
Leon K. Marcum, 27, of Centralia, Ill., was charged with aggravated leaving the scene of an accident involving death in the Sunday crash that killed Jim Gafney, said Clinton County State's Attorney John Hudspeth.
Prosecutors are reviewing all details of the case, including Marcum's blood-alcohol level, and may also file felony driving under the influence charges, Hudspeth said.
Police originally cited Marcum for misdemeanor DUI and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, but those charges were withdrawn pending further review.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure we prosecute this case appropriately given the end result – that a man lost his life,” Hudspeth said.
Marcum was being held in jail on $100,000 bail, Hudspeth said.
Gafney, 65, a former Navy man and retired computer engineer who had worked at Camp Pendleton, was killed about 12:40 a.m. as he was riding his bike east on U.S. Route 50, about 60 miles east of St. Louis, Illinois State Police said.
He had left his home April 27 on what he had dubbed his “Mad As Hell Bike Ride Across U.S.” He was gathering signatures protesting what he called “taxation without representation” by politicians he referred to as “Obama prostitutes.”

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