Driver gets 24 years to life for 405 crash that killed 10-year-old girl
A San Clemente man who killed a 10-year-old girl while driving on the 405 freeway under the influence of prescription drugs admitted his responsibility for the fatal crash on Friday and was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison.
Citing a previous DUI conviction and stints in rehab, Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg said Adam Kanas, 39, must have known he was under the influence when he caused the crash on the northbound 405 near Seal Beach Boulevard that killed Kendra Geddis and seriously injured the girl’s older sister and her father.
“I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams you wouldn’t know that,” the judge told Kanas. “My sense is you just didn’t care.”
In an emotional statement to the court, Pam Geddis, Kendra’s aunt, said her family has been left to live in “unimaginable pain and sorrow.”
“This wasn’t an accident,” Geddis said. “This was a purposeful choice the defendant made after years of selfish choices, and he destroyed our family completely.”
Kanas told the judge that he knew many lives were shattered by the fatal crash.
“A life was cut short and I’m responsible for that,” Kanas said. “The blame and the burden for that I carry with me every day.”
On the morning of Aug. 15, 2016, several motorists called 911 to report Kanas driving erratically in his Chevy Tahoe, swerving into multiple lanes, suddenly slowing down to 20 mph then abruptly speeding up to 70 mph and seemingly braking at random.
As other vehicles slowed down for traffic congestion, Kanas moved into a carpool lane and crashed into the back of a Tesla, the force of the collision pushing the smaller vehicle into the rear of a Honda Civic.
Driving the Tesla was Don Geddis, president of the board of trustees for the Hillsborough City School District, south of San Francisco. In the back seat of the car was Kendra, who was set to begin sixth grade, and Kayla, who was an eighth grader at the time.
Kendra, who was asleep, died in the crash. During the trial, Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman told jurors that when Kanas learned from a CHP officer of the girl’s death shortly after the crash, Kanas replied “accidents happen.”
A toxicology test found muscle relaxers, among other prescription drugs, in Kanas’ system. Video footage from a CHP office appeared to show Kanas falling asleep during an interview with investigators.
At the time of the crash, Kanas was on probation for a 2015 DUI conviction in Los Angeles County. As is routine in DUI cases, he had been warned that if he again drove while intoxicated and caused a crash in which someone was killed he could be charged with murder.
During the trial, Kanas’ attorney, Robert Gottlieb, acknowledged that Kanas was driving erratically, but denied he was impaired.
A Santa Ana jury found Kanas guilty of second-degree murder, along with a felony DUI with great bodily injury.
Under the states three-strikes guidelines, a 2013 burglary conviction could have doubled Kanas’ current sentence to 48 years to life in prison. Citing Kanas’ ongoing issues with opioid addiction, Gottlieb argued against the judge taking such an action.
“Mr. Kanas is not a lost cause,” Gottlieb said. “There is hope. He does not deserve to be thrown on the garbage heap, even though what happened here was as horrific as it comes.”
Feldman noted that while in jail Kanas had been caught with pruno – a homemade alcoholic concoction – and in the midst of his trial had been found with prescription medications.
“The best predictor of future behavior is the past,” Feldman told the judge. “Nobody has said Mr. Kanas isn’t sorry. It’s the responsibility aspects of his life that brings him here.”
In deciding not to deem the previous burglary conviction a strike and double Kanas’ sentence, the judge noted that Kanas’ previous convictions were not for violent crimes, and therefore not in the spirit of the three strikes law.
“To impose a strike would be tantamount to poetic justice, and we don’t do that,” Bromberg said.