Judge Sentences Man For Killing 2 Camp Pendleton Marines

Mon Sep 11, 7:40 PM ET

A 25-year-old San Diego man who was drunk when his car crashed into a disabled vehicle on Interstate 5 in Encinitas, killing two Camp Pendleton Marines, was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison.

Jason Carl Gollmer pleaded guilty in July to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Witnesses said Gollmer was speeding and driving erratically when his car crashed into a Volvo containing Douglas Hunter and Justin Trevenicek in the fast lane of the freeway near Encinitas Boulevard last Dec. 3.

The Marines were ejected from the car, which was split in half by the force of the collision. Both men died at the scene.

Deputy District Attorney Natalie Villaflor said the defendant attended a work party that night and then went to a Gaslamp District Bar.

Gollmer had a .21 blood-alcohol level when tested after the crash, nearly three times the legal limit, Villaflor said.

Travenicek's mother, Beverly Ives, told Vista Superior Court Judge Joan Weber that he was "our hero" who served his country and volunteered in Mexico and with handicapped children.

Trevenicek, who joined the Marines with Hunter and was celebrating his friend's birthday that night, had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

The judge noted that Gollmer -- who spent the hearing with his head bowed and frequently dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief -- was remorseful, wanted to accept culpability early and had no previous criminal record.

The defendant was "a young man who made a tragic and criminal mistake" but had -- up to that time -- "lived an exemplary life," the judge said.

Gollmer could have been sentenced to as much as 10 years behind bars.

Ellie