LOS ANGELES – The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case against a man sentenced to 30 years to life behind bars for a drunken driving crash in Lancaster that killed two young men on their way home from work.
In January, a 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 in its Jan. 7 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.
Previous related story:
Murder conviction upheld in Lancaster crash that killed 2
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
Family, coworkers remember men lost in alleged DUI crash
Alleged DUI driver kills two in Lancaster
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Stella says
God help us all
Danny says
Good he should rot their
Zachary says
You low life !! You killed my friend !! Straight a student that was picked on and never did anything wrong in his life is dead. Because some asshole couldn’t handle his liquor. That kid Jeffery Gilsrap would never drink or hurt anyone!!
Flint says
Sick of this white privilege! Oh wait.
Joe says
Flint, if you don’t go along with their BS, you’re a racist or a bigot or whatever other label they want to try and shame you with. Invisible racism? Sounds an awful lot like religion, you have to take it on faith because it’s invisible, lol.