SAN DIEGO — A 20-year-old man accused of killing two of his friends in a double fatal DUI crash will stand trial on second-degree murder charges.
Christopher Schmittel's preliminary hearing began Tuesday morning. The judge made his ruling around 2:00 p.m.
The crash happened at Torrey Pines State Beach exactly one year ago on April 25, 2022.
Prosecutors called six witnesses to the stand to testify.
The second witness was Aaron McCray. He is now 19-years-old. He testified he was in the backseat the night of the crash and had to be rescued by firefighters.
"They had to cut the door off because it was stuck and cut my seat belt, and pull me out," he said.
McCray said his ankle hurt, as did his entire leg. He said he had cuts on his chin. He said he spent a week in the hospital.
"I had 18 hours of surgery for a broken femur, hip, ankle and internal bleeding in my stomach," he said.
He said once he returned home, he wasn't able to stay in his bedroom because he couldn't walk up the stairs. He said four months after the crash was the first time he was able to stand up again.
At one point during McCray's testimony, the judge called a short break because McCray had started to cry while talking about his recovery.
Loved ones of the victims who were seated in the gallery all started crying too. Some actually got up and left the courtroom. Some were wearing t-shirts with Joshua Manzanares picture. Both he and Johnny Punzalan died during the crash.
McCray told the judge what led up to the crash.
He testified the teens were drinking that night, some had been smoking marijuana. He said the defendant had taken a Xanax, he had been drinking beer and he also took mushrooms.
McCray testified they were driving from Riverside to San Diego that evening. He said they first took Ortega highway, which is a two-lane mountainous road. He said Schmittel was speeding, going more than 100 miles an hour and swerving into oncoming traffic.
He testified once they got onto Interstate 5, Schmittel was going 140 miles an hour and passing cars.
He said they hung out at a beach in Del Mar for awhile.
McCray said before they all got back in the vehicle, he remembers one of the other passengers asking Schmittel if he was okay to drive.
"I remember Adrian [Garcia] asking [Schmittel] if he was 'good?' He said 'Yeah,' and then my memory cuts off," said McCray.
He said the next thing he remembers is waking up as firefighters were pulling him from the wrecked vehicle.
Schmittel faces a maximum sentence of 30 years to life behind bars.
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