Murray

While driving drunk going the wrong way on a freeway, appellant Daniel Edmund Murray killed four people in a head-on collision and injured two others. By jury trial appellant was convicted of four counts of second degree murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 189; People v. Watson (1981) 30 Cal.3d 290 [ 179 Cal.Rptr. 43 , 637 P.2d 279 ]) and two counts of driving under the influence causing injury. (Veh. Code, § 23153, subd. (a).) He was sentenced to state prison for a term of 30 years to life. We affirm.

Facts

Summary

With a blood-alcohol level between .18 and .23 percent, appellant recklessly drove his pickup truck on the Ventura Freeway (101) near Calabasas and Agoura Hills the night of December 11, 1986. Traveling westbound at high speed and swerving all over the freeway, appellant barely avoided collisions with about 10 cars and the center divider. Appellant slowed to a stop in an exit lane, but apparently resumed driving on the freeway. Past the next exit he pulled over to the right shoulder of the freeway and stopped. He then made a U-turn on the freeway and began traveling the wrong way, eastbound on the westbound side of the freeway, at speeds of 55 to 80 miles per hour.…