Homicide

Driver who killed Italian honeymooner on Los Angeles beach boardwalk seeks new trial

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2013, file photo, Nathan Louis Campbell, a transient from Colorado, enters Los Angeles Superior Court. Campbell, 40, who plowed through crowds on the tourist-packed Venice Beach boardwalk, killing an Italian honeymooner and injuring 17 others two years ago, wants a new trial over claims of juror misconduct. Campbell, was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, but lawyers said it was likely to be postponed because of arguments for a new trial. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2013, file photo, a card showing the photo of Italian newlyweds Alice Gruppioni, left, and her husband Christian Casadei, is displayed on a memorial for Gruppioni along Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach in Los Angeles. The driver who plowed through crowds on the tourist-packed Venice Beach boardwalk, killing Gruppioni, an Italian honeymooner and injuring 17 others two years ago, wants a new trial over claims of juror misconduct. Nathan Campbell, 40, was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, in a Los Angeles courtroom for second-degree murder and other charges, but lawyers said it was likely to be postponed because of arguments for a new trial. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) (The Associated Press)

The driver who killed a honeymooner on the tourist-crowded Venice Beach boardwalk and injured 17 others is seeking a new trial.

Nathan Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom for second-degree murder and other charges.

The sentencing could be postponed because Campell's lawyer says he will ask a judge to give the 40-year-old Colorado man a new trial.

Campbell was convicted in June of murdering Italian newlywed Alice Gruppioni two years ago when he drove his Dodge Avenger down the pedestrian walkway.

Prosecutors say he was trying to run down a man who ripped him off in a drug deal, but he hit innocent bystanders instead.

The defense acknowledged the carnage he left behind, but argued that he swerved to avoid pedestrians.