A man who drove drunk and fatally struck a pedestrian in University Heights, then fled and tried to cover up his involvement in the collision, was convicted of murder and other charges.
Brandon Allen Janik, 38, ran a red light and struck 47-year-old Joshua Gilliland on June 10, 2023, as the victim was crossing El Cajon Boulevard at the three-way intersection of Normal Street and El Cajon and Park boulevards.
Paramedics took Gilliland to a hospital, where he died four days later. Friends of Gilliland, who was a bartender at Cheers on Adams Avenue, said he was walking to work when he was struck.
In the days after hitting Gilliland, prosecutors say Janik had the smashed windshield on his vehicle replaced and claimed to his insurance company that the car was damaged when he backed the vehicle into a pole while parking it at his apartment.
Janik was arrested for the fatal crash about three months later.
Along with murder, a San Diego jury found Janik guilty late Thursday afternoon of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run, and several other charges related to filing a false insurance claim.