SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A state appeals court panel upheld the murder convictions Monday for a young man who drove under the influence and crashed his car onto Torrey Pines State Beach, killing two of his passengers and seriously injuring two others.
Christopher Ray Schmittel, 23, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of causing the deaths of Joshua Manzanares and Johnny Punzalan, both 19, by crashing a 2020 Subaru WRX through a metal guardrail on Torrey Pines Road on the night of April 25, 2022.
The car landed on the beach below, throwing Manzanares and Punzalan from the vehicle. They died at the scene, while Schmittel and two other passengers in the car were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Prosecutors say the car reached speeds of more than 120 mph just before the crash and Schmittel, who was 19 years old at the time, was driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs…