A young man convicted of second-degree murder for a crash that killed three people at a Lancaster intersection was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life in state prison.
Davion Murphy, 22, apologized to the victims’ families before being sentenced, and two of the victims’ family members offered their forgiveness, according to Deputy District Attorney Yoobin Hernandez.
Jurors found Murphy guilty March 9 of three counts of second-degree murder stemming from the Jan. 11, 2018, collision at the corner of Avenue J-8 and Challenger Way that killed Yovany Salazar Calzada, 23, Rocio Perez Lopez, 26, and Calzada’s grandmother, Virginia Martinez, 61.
The victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene,were riding in a Subaru WRX that was struck by a silver Lexus driven by Murphy, according to Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins, who along with Hernandez prosecuted the case.
The prosecution argued that evidence, including a post-crash blood test, showed that Murphy was driving under the influence of marijuana, and witnesses reported seeing him smoking the drug about 30 to 45 minutes beforehand.
Murphy — whose three passengers survived the collision — went through a red light and struck the driver’s side of the Subaru containing the victims, Higgins said. The defendant was driving at least 88 mph in a 40 mph zone at the time of the crash, according to the prosecutor.
Murphy has remained in jail since his November 2018 arrest.