Drunk driver pleads guilty in
hit and run death of bicyclist

By Neal Putnam
The Alpine Sun

     EL CAJON — A drunk driver who is charged with killing Edward Costa on his bicycle on Alpine Boulevard pleaded guilty May 26 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit and run.
     Travis Chris Weber, 44, of Alpine, has agreed to accept an 11-year term in state prison. El Cajon Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh set sentencing for June 25.
     "He pleaded guilty to the most serious charge and it is a strike," said Deputy District Attorney Gordon Davis, who added the strike offense means he will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is paroled.
     Davis said it is anticipated that Deddeh will sentence Weber to six years for vehicular manslaughter plus five years consecutively for hit and run in the Dec. 2, 2008, incident. Costa, 30, was struck in the bike lane at 4:50 p.m. near the Alpine sheriff's substation.
     Costa's family was present in the courtroom when Weber pleaded guilty on what was to be his first day on trial. "I asked for their blessing. They understood it was a good plea," said Davis.
     Davis said the victim's family indicated that they wished Weber could face a longer sentence. Weber was not charged with murder, and sometimes that is a difficult charge to prove to a jury when it involves a traffic fatality.
     Weber admitted in his plea that he was drunk when he struck and killed Costa, but he wasn't arrested until Dec. 4. There was no blood/alcohol level test when the incident occurred since he drove away, the prosecutor pointed out.
     There were no witnesses who said he was drunk at the time. It is only Weber's admission in his guilty plea that he was drunk that is the only proof he had been drinking.
     Darlene Blanchard testified in his Jan. 21 preliminary hearing that Weber crashed his truck into her Volkswagen Jetta on Alpine Boulevard on Dec. 2, just minutes before he later ran over Costa. She said she exchanged insurance information with Weber, and thought he acted a little strange, but didn't get close enough to see if he was drunk.
     Blanchard testified she called her husband on her cell phone, and he urged her to call 911. When she did, Weber drove off while she was still holding his insurance information.
     Weber made a statement to deputies after his arrest that he was on a 5-day drinking binge, and claimed he did not even know about the collision with the bicycle and Costa's death, even though it was widely reported.
     Weber was spotted two days later at the Liar's Club bar by mourners gathered near the spot where Costa died. They noticed the damaged Ford F-150 in the parking lot, and called sheriff's deputies, who found Weber drinking in the bar.
     Deputies said they interviewed the Liar's Club bartender who served Weber, and he said Weber asked for two brands of beer they were out of. Weber replied to the bartender "just give me something good." He received a 16-ounce bottle of Damnation, a German beer, according to testimony.
     Judge Lantz Lewis conducted the preliminary hearing and said Weber's own words indicated he was driving in an alcoholic blackout. He remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $1 million bail.

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