![In the days following the fatal crash, Walmart associates created memorial photos of Beau [left] and Jeff [right].](https://www.theavtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Beau-and-Jeffrey-1024x670.jpg)
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support Tommie Lee Cole‘s conviction on two counts of second-degree murder stemming from the Feb. 26, 2012, crash that killed Beau Josh Owen Fluker and Jeffrey Daniel Gilstrap.
Fluker, 26, and Gilstrap, 23, were en route home after working late shifts at a Walmart store when their vehicle was broadsided at the intersection of Avenue J and 20th Street West just before 2:30 a.m. and came to rest atop a fire hydrant.
![Tommie Lee Cole [Facebook photo]](https://www.theavtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Tommie-Cole-1.jpg)
“Defendant’s prior drunk driving offense, his blood-alcohol level and decision to drive while intoxicated, and his highly dangerous acts of speeding and attempting to ‘beat’ a yellow light are substantial evidence to support the jury’s conclusion that the subjective standard for implied malice was satisfied,” the appellate court panel noted.
A criminalist from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department concluded that Cole’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit, according to the ruling.
Along with second-degree murder, Cole was convicted in February 2014 of two counts each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count each of driving under the influence and driving with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content.
He was sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison.
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Previous related stories:
Cole gets 30 years to life in DUI double death
Tommie Cole convicted in DUI double murder
DUI double murder trial begins
Man ordered to trial in DUI double murder case
Hundreds say goodbye to Beau and Jeff
Man charged with murder in fatal DUI crash, bail set at $2 million
Clean the AV says
June you need to help yourself you have a real problem don’t worry about this killer. ALCOHOL is everywhere that don’t mean am going to go drink and get wasted only weak minded people do that. I don’t comprehend what you drunks get out of it or drug addicts don’t see where the fun is can you please tell me. This guy killed two people he knew before that could happen but drunks and drug addicts always blame the world or find the best excuses for there actions SORRY but he is a killer now and we cant be keeping so many alive they live free rent no bills no worries just eat and crap what and free easy life. I say he should get the chair what if it was your fam who got killed
Mike says
Lock the POS up and throw away the keys!
Opposed to drinking and driving says
If you plan on drinking and then you drive you are being selfish. You should have a designated driver. You should know when to stop drinking!!! I personally don’t know the victims but I do know a person who was KILLED by a drunk driver. I have sympathy for the victims and the victims families. DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!
Employee says
I agree with you. These guys were seriously such great guys. I knew beau and I remember one night while working late I was walking to my car which I parked far. He said please let me walk you to you car a girl should never walk alone at night. This was the type of guy beau was. Always laughing and smiling always trying to brighten someone’s day. He will be forever missed
june says
I have some sympathy for the accused… I have been there, I have been so drunk I didn’t have control of common sense…. and so we are filling prisons with people who were under the influence of a substance they thought they could handle… how many people would live every year if alcohol was banned? How many car crashes wouldnt exist?
Do we really care about our fellow man or just about our own selfish lives?
J. Ripper says
Yes, let’s ban alcohol!
Chip says
Really, prohibition again. Let’s be serious. Have some common sense and try to be accountable for your actions.
vanessa says
I couldn’t agree more…
vanessa says
You’re an idiot. Don’t blame you inability to know your own limits or your lack of common sense on alcohol. Excuses always come from those who feel sorry for themselves and hope others will too. I have no pity or tolerance for people like you. Your sympathy is ill placed and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to justify this “convicted murderer’s” actions, to refer to him as “the accused” only shows your ignorance and total lack of disrespect to true victims of this senseless crime.
Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself:
“Do we really care about our fellow man or just about our selfish lives?”
Your answer might scare you.