DUI murder trial for driver who hit bicyclist goes to jury

Jurors began deliberating Thursday on whether a Huntington Beach man who was high on heroin when he ran over a bicyclist in Newport Beach should be convicted of murder.

The defense and prosecution agreed during the trial that Neil Storm Stephany, 24, was intoxicated when his truck smashed into Shaun Eagleson, a 30-year-old husband and musician from Fountain Valley who was cycling along East Coast Highway on the evening of Oct. 19, 2014.

“I realize this case is a tragedy,” said Stephany’s lawyer Brian Gurwitz. “It’s a tragedy because of what my client did.”

In dispute during the trial was whether Stephany’s actions amounted to second-degree murder, the only charge he is facing.

Stephany pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving drunk in 2011, and as part of the plea, authorities advised him that he could be charged with murder if he drove under the influence again and killed someone.

In his closing argument, Gurwitz contended that prosecutors failed to support the murder charge by failing to prove that Stephany understood the deadly risk of driving high and that he consciously disregarded the risk on the day of Eagleson’s death.

It is reasonable to conclude that Stephany wasn’t coherent enough to understand what was going on, Gurwitz argued. “He was out of it,” he said, adding that Stephany was practically hallucinating from the amount of drugs in his system.

Prosecutor Jennifer Walker countered that Stephany chose to take the drugs and was aware of how dangerous his driving was.

During the trial, Walker played 911 calls from bystanders expressing concern and shock as Stephany’s truck swerved from lane to lane, stopped at green lights and sped away.

“He’s driving like a madman,” one caller said before describing the truck taking off “like a bat out of hell.”

Even after the crash that killed Eagleson, Stephany kept driving, Walker said.

“He knew what he was doing was wrong, which is why he left,” she said.

Authorities said Stephany told Newport Beach police officers that he thought he had hit a parked car and that he took off to avoid arrest for violating his probation, which barred him from driving with measurable alcohol or drugs in his system.

“When he got in that car, he was putting his life and his desires above everyone else on the road that day,” Walker said.