A Corona man was convicted of homicide on Friday for the deaths of three teenage boys who performed a doorbell ditch prank at his house in 2020.
Anurag Chandra was convicted of three counts of first-degree homicide and three counts of tried homicide after authorities mentioned he deliberately rammed right into a 2002 Toyota Prius full of youngsters and compelled it off the street.
“The homicide of those younger males was a horrendous and mindless tragedy for our group. I thank the jury for his or her verdict. This is a vital step towards justice,” Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin mentioned in an announcement launched to the Related Press.
The district legal professional’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Occasions.
Chandra’s legal professional, David Wohl, known as the conviction of first-degree homicide “an entire overreach.” Wohl mentioned he deliberate on submitting a movement for a brand new trial.
“I believe that we felt worst-case situation could be voluntary manslaughter, however we additionally thought we had made a fantastic case for an acquittal outright,” Wohl advised The Occasions on Sunday. “The battle has simply begun so far as I’m involved.”
The lethal encounter unfolded on Jan. 19, 2020.
Six youngsters had been having a sleepover and certainly one of them dared their buddies to pull a “ding-dong-ditch” prank — ringing a doorbell and shortly driving away — at a close-by house, in response to an investigation performed by the California Freeway Patrol.
One of many boys rang the doorbell of Chandra’s house and ran again to the ready Prius whereas Chandra chased after them.
Because the Toyota and Chandra’s 2019 Infinity Q50 approached Squaw Mountain Street, authorities mentioned, Chandra struck the again of the Prius, inflicting it to veer off the street and crash right into a tree.
Jacob Ivascu of Riverside died on the scene. Drake Ruiz and Daniel Hawkins, each of Corona, died after being transported to a hospital, in response to the Riverside County coroner.
Firefighters freed the three different teenagers trapped within the automotive: the 18-year-old driver, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, in response to a CHP information launch.
Wohl mentioned media shops had reported it as a easy prank however that a youngster had pounded on Chandra’s door at 10:30 p.m. and “uncovered himself, with pants pulled down beneath his rear finish.”
Chandra’s spouse and two daughters had been inside the house, Wohl mentioned, and “he was in excessive concern for his or her security.”
“It was far more severe than a ding-dong-ditch,” Wohl mentioned.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that members of the family and buddies of the victims gathered in court docket Friday, a lot of them sobbing because the verdicts had been learn.
“We’re glad to see justice was served although this present day it’s onerous to return by,” Alex Ivascu, the daddy of two of the kids within the automotive, advised the information outlet. “However we had an affordable jury that seemed on the information and realized that the information converse louder than phrases — or mendacity phrases from the defendant.”
