After only three and a half hours of deliberation, a jury convicted a drunk driver on July 17 of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of a pregnant woman and her unborn daughter in 2017.
The same jury also convicted Andrew Dorian Milonis, 46, of hit and run in the death of Jessica Foderingham, 29, who was eight months pregnant when Milonis’ black GMC Yukon struck her car, sending her into a pepper tree near Ramona.
The nine-woman, three-man jury also convicted Milonis of two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit and run with property damage and driving with a suspended license.
“Justice was served for the victims,” said Deputy District Attorney Laura Evans.
Evans said Milonis faces a maximum term of 31 years to life in prison. El Cajon Superior Court Judge John Thompson set sentencing for Aug. 26.
Evans said Milonis faces two 15-year-to-life terms to equal 30 years plus one year for hit and run resulting in death. He remains in jail without bail.
The prosecutor told jurors Milonis “consciously disregarded” the lives of Foderingham and her unborn daughter who was later named Ayanna.
“He made the conscious decision to drink,” said Evans, who added that Milonis hit a fence the previous year after he had been drinking and was warned how dangerous it was to drink and drive.
The incident occurred on May 14, 2017 which was also Mother’s Day. Foderingham’s husband, Christian Foderingham, was following her in a car. He is a U.S. Marine and is raising their two sons.
Milonis did not testify and his attorney Ward Clay argued some other driver must have struck Foderingham in her Dodge Dart. He said the crime of murder was unproven.
“Somebody sober caused the accident and fled,” said Clay during his closing argument July 16.
Milonis left his car at a business and got a ride from a Lyft driver who said Milonis asked him to take him “anywhere I can get a drink.” Sheriff’s deputies found Milonis at a bar in Ramona afterwards.
His blood/alcohol level was .20, more than twice the legal limit, about four hours after the collision.
Justice sought for men shot to death in their cars
Jury deliberations continued this week in the double murder trial of two men accused of shooting two men to death near La Mesa.
Following a 7-week trial, jurors began their discussions on July 17 in the case against Donte Jerome Haddock, 27, and Anthony Constantin Frank, 27, involving the deaths of two men who were both shot in cars.
Darris Gadson-Walker, 20, a Grossmont College student, was shot on April 30, 2011 in a rear parking lot of the Marie Callender’s restaurant on Alvarado Road near 70th Street.
Xusha Brown, Jr., 22, of La Mesa, was a passenger in a car on Interstate 8 when he was killed on May 5, 2013. San Diego Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian conducted the trial.
Deputy District Attorney Sophia Roach told the seven-man, five-woman jury the bullets that killed Brown was fired through the back windshield. Also wounded was the driver, Malcolm Hune, 27, who was the target of the shootings.
“I knew I killed him because of the way his head hit,” Roach quoted Frank as telling someone afterwards.
Haddock’s attorney, Jane Kinsey, told jurors her client was “pigeon holed as a criminal at a young age” because he was a member of a gang.
“Don’t judge a book by his cover,” said Kinsey.
A co-defendant, Alaeante Eason, 28, of East County, testified against both men as he said he was in the car when Brown was killed. Eason remains in jail awaiting sentencing for a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter and faces between a 4- to 16-year prison term.
Kinsey and Frank’s attorney, Zaki Zehawi, criticized the plea bargain that Eason agreed to in which a murder charge was dismissed.
Haddock and Frank are also charged with three special circumstances alleging they committed multiple murders, were lying in wait, and firing from a vehicle. If convicted, they face a life sentence without parole.
Haddock and Frank did not testify, and they both remain in jail.
