A 22-year-old man was averaging 111 mph as he led an Orange police officer on a chase that killed three of his passengers three years ago, a prosecutor told jurors Monday, while the defendant’s attorney argued her client’s low IQ and traumatic childhood stunted his emotional growth and ability to make good decisions.
Azarie Dupree Fuller is charged with three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of child abuse and endangerment, two counts of reckless driving causing injury to a passenger, and a count of leading police on a chase causing death, all felonies. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of driving without a driver’s license and an infraction for speeding more than 100 mph and faces sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury.
Deputy District Attorney Mallory Miller told jurors the deadly collision was “completely foreseeable and completely avoidable.”
The pursuit began about 2:47 a.m. July 9, 2022, at Glassell Street and Lincoln Avenue when an officer heard the screeching of brakes behind him as Fuller “pulled up on him like `The Dukes of Hazzard,”’ and then made a u-turn, Miller said.
Fuller and six others were “crammed” into a Nissan Altima, likely without seatbelts, Miller said.
Officer Christian Gray struggled to keep up with the Altima in a short pursuit that lasted about 30 seconds before the car slammed into a railroad crossing on Glassell near Taft Avenue, Miller said.
The crash killed 26-year-old Gustavo Castro of Garden Grove, 14-year-old Dayanara Rebolledo of Tustin and 17-year-old Dominic McGinley of Anaheim.
A 14-year-old girl in the car suffered major pelvic and leg injuries, while a 14-year-old boy sustained brain damage and required surgery to relieve swelling, Miller said. One victim was “almost entirely decapitated,” she told jurors.
Miller said the night began with the group traveling in a family-owned pickup truck to a street takeover in Los Angeles, where some were “huffing” nitrous oxide — which is known as “laughing gas” and is a sedative that is often abused as an intoxicant — from balloons.
When they returned the damaged truck to the family’s home in Garden Grove, the group stayed together and hopped into the Altima belonging to a sibling of Fuller’s, Miller said.
Miller showed jurors dash-cam and body-worn video of the pursuit and crash. The officer can be seen approaching Sean Victoriano staggering from the fiery car “like a zombie,” Miller said.
The force of the collision hurled some of the victims from the fully engulfed car, she said.
During the pursuit, Fuller was admonished to slow down, but the defendant said, “No, I’ve got this,” Miller alleged.
Fuller also turned off the car’s headlights to make it harder for the officer to pursue him, Miller alleged.
“This is not an accident,” Miller said. “This was an inevitability … He didn’t accidentally go 100 mph. He didn’t accidentally turn off his headlights … He drove in a way that was dangerous to human life.”
Fuller’s attorney, Allison Chan of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, said the collision was a case of “adolescent trauma leading to teenage tragedy.”
The collision was “the result of impulsive, rash, immature choices made by a group of teenagers,” Chan said.
She pointed out Fuller was not accused of driving under the influence and there was no evidence of him having nitrous oxide or alcohol in his system.
Fuller endured a “cycle of homelessness” growing up with a mother who would periodically drop him off with relatives while also squatting in abandoned homes as they “scrounged for food” at times, Chan said.
A psychiatric expert is expected to testify how Fuller had to attend multiple schools through the years and suffered emotional abuse, poverty and inconsistent parenting as a child, Chan said. Tests show he has the age equivalent of a 7 to 9 year old, Chan said.
Brain development can be affected by childhood trauma, Chan said.
Jurors will be tasked with deciding whether the intent that night was murder or not, Chan said.