Apr 4, 2008 11:46 pm US/Pacific
Only $500 Of Farmer's Market Crash Fines Paid
LOS ANGELES
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George Russell Weller, driver of the car that plowed through a farmers market in Santa Monica, California.
AP
Prosecutors say an elderly man convicted of killing 10 people when his car plowed through the Santa Monica farmers' market has paid just $500 of the thousands of dollars he was ordered to pay in restitution and fines.
George Russell Weller, now 91, was convicted in October 2006 of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence stemming from the July 16, 2003 crash on Arizona Avenue at the Third Street Promenade.
Weller has not appeared at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse since the first day of his trial. The judge ordered that Weller be on hand for the prosecutor's opening statement, but Weller did not attend the rest of the proceeding or his November 2006 sentencing hearing.
Although the judge said Weller deserved to go to prison, he sentenced him to five years of probation because of his "rapidly declining health and poor physical condition."
At the sentencing hearing, Weller was ordered to pay $44,200 in fines and fees, along with $57,500 in restitution to the families of two of the victims. That restitution amount was amended in April 2007 to be slightly more than $73,000 involving four of the victims, along with money to the state victims' compensation board, Deputy District Attorney Ann Ambrose said.
Weller is appealing his conviction.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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