Victims and family members are expected to speak Friday during sentencing for a driver who killed an Italian honeymooner and injured pedestrians when he barreled down the popular Venice Beach Boardwalk two years ago.
In a handwritten letter released Thursday by his lawyer on the eve of his sentencing for murder, Nathan Campbell said no words would ever express his sorrow, but he stopped short of accepting full responsibility, The Associated Press reported.
"Every minute of every day I wish that the horrible things that happened on Aug. 3, 2013 had not," he wrote on yellow-lined legal paper. "I wish I could have stopped instead of panicking, causing pain to so many people."
Campbell, 40, faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of newlywed Alice Gruppioni. Prosecutors are seeking an additional 33 years for 17 counts of assault with a deadly weapon and 10 counts of leaving an accident scene.
Sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Several victims are also expected to speak. At an August hearing when sentencing was postponed, three victims addressed Campbell and the court about the trauma he caused.
Nancy Martinez used a cane as she hobbled to the witness stand. She said her life had been completely changed that day and that she's no longer able to dance, run or work.
"It's been two years now, and I'm still in pain with the trauma," she said through an interpreter. She said she worried about going out, "fearful that I'll be hit again."
The first person injured in the rampage, Judith Fox, recalled how Campbell struck an ATM that came "flying through the air." It knocked her to the ground, and she banged the back of her head.
"I will forever feel that this person was on a mission to maim and kill innocent people," Fox said.
Prosecutors argued the death toll could have been much higher.
News
Top news of the day
"If not for sheer luck, more people could have been killed," Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila said in his sentencing memo. "Defendant created chaos and a scenario of great violence which to this date has not only traumatized the victims, but also witnesses who observed from a distance."
Campbell was gunning for a drug dealer who ripped him off when he steered his dark blue Dodge Avenger around poles and accelerated through one of Los Angeles' top tourist attractions, Avila said. Witnesses heard a revving engine, and one man said Campbell was smiling as he picked people off, sending them airborne.
No one reported hearing a horn or warnings.
Campbell testified that he meant to shift the car into reverse and panicked when it went forward. Defense lawyer James Cooper III said Campbell had been drinking earlier in the day and that he swerved to avoid pedestrians.
Cooper said his client will probably read the letter at sentencing that said he was careless and used bad judgment in trying to drive when he was exhausted.
