EL CAJON – On the eve of the start of his trial, a 44-year-old Alpine man pleaded guilty Tuesday to gross vehicular manslaughter involving alcohol in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in December.
The change of plea by Travis Weber included an enhancement for hit-and-run driving and an agreement by attorneys for both sides that Weber will be sentenced to 11 years in state prison on June 25.
In addition, relatives of the victim, Edward Costa, 30, of Alpine, will be allowed to make statements before Weber is sentenced.
“It was a tragic case,” said attorney Russell K. Robinson, Weber's defense counsel. “Mr. Weber is a spiritual man and he feels very bad about this whole thing. If he could change anything, he would.”
Robinson said he and the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Gordon Paul Davis, had worked several weeks to reach a resolution that would be fair to Weber and also spare Costa's relatives from the ordeal of a trial.
Davis said the case was difficult, in part, because the state lacked clear evidence that Weber was drunk at the time of the accident, since authorities did not find him until his arrest two days later.
On Dec. 2, Costa was riding his mountain bike in the bicycle lane on Alpine Boulevard at Rock Terrace Road just before 5 p.m. when a truck came from behind and slammed into him, authorities said.
Two days after the crash, as Costa's family and friends were holding a memorial vigil at the crash site, they saw Weber pull into the Liars' Club parking lot across the street, a witness testified at a preliminary hearing in January. The witness said she performed a citizen's arrest while others summoned sheriff's deputies.
Also at the hearing, a California Highway Patrol officer testified that Weber said that he had been on a drinking binge for five days or more at the time and didn't remember anything that happened on Dec. 2.
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