Seventeen members of the family of Courtney Frances Stewart, the 20-year-old woman killed along with Angels pticher Nick Adenhart and another friend last week, appeared wearing t-shirts whith Stewart's picture on them at Monday's arraignment for the driver accused of causing the crash.
The judge ordered the arraignment to be continued to June 8 and increased bail to $2 million for Andrew Thomas Gallo, the 22-year-old San Gabriel man who faces three counts of second-degree murder in the case. Gallo was driving on a suspended license, and police said he blew through a red light.
Jon Wilhite, the lone survivor of the crash allegedly , remained hospitalized Monday at UC Irvine Medical Center, his condition having been upgraded over the weekend from critical to serious.
Gallo fled his wrecked car but was caught within about 30 minutes of the early Thursday morning crash, police said. He was originally jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.
Gallo is accused of driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit.
The van he was driving was going about 65 mph in a 35 mph zone when he allegedly ran a red light at Orangethorpe Avenue and Lemon Street and struck the Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Courtney Frances Stewart, 20, of Diamond Bar.
She was killed, along with Adenhart, 22, and Henry Nigel Pearson, 25, of Manhattan Beach.
Adenhart, who had pitched six scoreless innings only hours earlier, died in surgery at UC Irvine Medical Center.
Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas said the second-degree murder charges are based on implied malice -- meaning Gallo was doing something inherently dangerous with a conscious disregard for the life of others. Gallo has a prior conviction in San Bernardino County for driving under the influence in 2006 and was on probation, with his license suspended,
at the time of the crash, authorities said.
He faces a maximum sentence of 54 years and eight months to life in prison, Rackauckas said.
Adenhart and his friends were apparently headed to a Fullerton club called In Cahoots at the time of the crash.
