A retrial for a man who is accused of killing a grandmother and her granddaughter has begun this week.
NBC in Los Angeles reported on its website that 25-year-old Alec Scott Abraham had a reputation for speeding. Now Abraham faces two counts of second-degree murder after his vehicle broadsided another vehicle, killing 54-year-old grandmother, Katherine Hampton, and her two-year-old granddaughter, Kaydence and leaving the little girl’s mother and brother severely injured in June of 2015.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky told the court that Abraham had been warned about his driving earlier that same year when a state parks police officer pulled him over for speeding on Pacific Coast Highway on January 3, 2015, and when his coworkers at a Toyota dealership in Huntington Beach also advised him about his reckless driving habits.
Bokosky also presented a selfie video that had been recorded by Abraham himself, showing him going at the maximum speed that a Ford Mustang had been capable of and then sending the video to coworkers.
Abraham was chastised by some of the recipients of the text message, who told him to “stop driving like an idiot.” Some of those same coworkers had the good sense to forward the video to the California Highway Patrol.
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In the incident that took the lives of the two victims, Abraham was driving his vehicle down a hill on Alton Parkway in Irvine when he swerved into a left turn lane at the intersection of Barranca Parkway. It was there that Abraham’s vehicle struck the Chevy Cruz being driven by Katherine Hampton.
An Event Data Recorder (EDR) showed that Abraham had been going 75 miles per hour before crashing into Hampton’s car.
Although Abraham got out of his vehicle to check on the victims in the Cruz, according to at least one eyewitness, Abraham left the scene of the fatal crash.
Abraham’s defense attorney argued that his client was unfamiliar with the area and had been confused. Further, Abraham had never had any prior accidents or collisions and that his former co-workers at the Toyota dealership were simply “disgruntled employees.”
In April of last year, a jury indicated that they would convict Abraham of two counts of second-degree murder. One juror in the trial, however, changed their mind. The judge declared it a mistrial and a new trial was ordered.
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