A man who prosecutors say drove drunk and fatally struck a pedestrian in University Heights, then fled and tried to cover up his involvement, was found guilty of murder and other charges this week.

Brandon Allen Janik, 38, ran a red light and struck Joshua Gilliland, 47, as the victim crossed El Cajon Boulevard at the three-way intersection of Normal Street and El Cajon and Park boulevards on Sept. 10. June 2023.

Paramedics took Gilliland to a hospital, where he died four days later. Gilliland was a waiter at Cheers on Adams Avenue and his friends said he was walking to work when he was hit.

In the days after hitting Gilliland, prosecutors say, Janik had his vehicle’s shattered windshield replaced and claimed to his insurance company that the car was damaged when he backed into a pole while parking it at his apartment.

Janik was arrested for the fatal crash about three months later. Because he had a prior DUI conviction, stemming from a rollover crash on State Route 52 in 2016 in which he was seriously injured, prosecutors charged him with murder.

In addition to murder, a San Diego Superior Court jury found Janik guilty Thursday afternoon of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run and several charges related to filing a false insurance claim.

Deputy District Attorney Hailey Williams told jurors that after drinking at bars in Hillcrest all day, Janik was later found by passers-by passed out behind the wheel of a car stopped in the middle of University Avenue.

After Janik was removed from the vehicle, he told the bystanders assisting him: “Thank you. You have no idea how much you are helping me. I already have a DUI,” according to Williams.

Paramedics responded and evaluated Janik. Williams said Janik assured paramedics he would call an Uber or walk home, then waited until they left, drove off and ran over Gilliland a few minutes later.

Janik’s defense attorney, Justin Murphy, did not deny that Janik hit Gilliland or that he had a responsibility to stop after the accident. Instead, Murphy argued that there was no evidence that Janik was intoxicated at the time.

“Until his horrible decision to flee, no crime had been committed,” said Murphy, who explained that at that moment, his client “panicked, got scared and made a cowardly decision.”

Murphy argued that without any physical evidence of intoxication, such as blood or breath tests, the prosecution was relying on the observations of laypeople who assumed Janik was drunk.

The attorney said the paramedics who found Janik were the only witnesses who were professionally trained to recognize signs of intoxication and that they did not notice any odor of alcohol on Janik, nor did they notice bloodshot eyes, slurred speech or an unsteady gait.

Originally Posted: November 8, 2024 at 12:32 pm PST