Teen Given Seven-Year Sentence for Fatal DUI Hit-and-Run
By Marianne Madden
Published on November 07, 2006
The defendant, Daniel Scott Hall, now 19, was 18 when he fatally hit 25-year-old Christopher McCallister. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23, nearly three times the legal limit, at the time of the accident. He pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and to hit-and-run resulting in death.
The accident occurred just before midnight on June 25. Hall swerved to avoid a row of cars in the lively neighborhood of Pacific Beach and struck McCallister as he was crossing the street. McCallister, a law student with one year of school left, was pronounced dead at the scene. Hall fled the scene, but was stopped by officers 10 minutes later.
Hall told police that he had left a party where he drank beer and rum. He also had sedatives in his system and marijuana in his car, which he said he was intending to sell.
Hall’s defense attorney, Scott Williams, citing Hall’s remorse for the crime, attempted to urge the judge to sentence Hall to probation and time in a local jail, or a 90-day evaluation to see if prison was an appropriate punishment. However, San Diego Superior Court Judge George Clarke maintained that Hall must have been aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, and that his bad judgment took the life of a man “who had everything in the world going for him.”
Clarke also noted that Hall’s crime was made worse by his fleeing the scene of the accident and leaving McCallister for dead.
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