Marine Gets 11 Years for Dana Point DUI Crash that Killed Three

A U.S. Marine Corps sergeant was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed three of his fellow servicemen in Dana Point, despite a defense claim that he suffers from post- traumatic stress disorder and should be sent to a treatment center.

Jared Ray Hale, was convicted Dec. 10 of driving under the influence causing bodily injury and driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit causing bodily injury. Jurors also found true sentence-enhancing allegations of causing great bodily injury.

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Deputy District Attorney Stephen Cornwell said Hale had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 -- more than twice the legal limit -- when the fatal crash occurred Feb. 14, 2012. The prosecutor also said Hale had agreed to be the designated driver when he went out drinking with his friends.

“He agreed to be the designated driver so he had these unwitting victims who thought they would have a sober driver, so he put them in that position,” Cornwell said. “The evidence at trial showed that, according to the expert, he had to consume 13 to 14 drinks to get to that alcohol level.”

Hale claimed he only had one drink over the 24 hours before the crash, Cornwell said.

“My position is he got these 13 to 14 drinks into his system somehow or another,” the prosecutor said. “He drove there while wasted or he was drinking in secret. It’s one or the other, and once you agree to be a designated driver those options are terrible.”

Defense attorney William Paparian contended, however, that his client was “self-medicating” with booze after returning home following a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Paparian said Hale should be in a hospital, not behind bars, because he was given a “40 percent disability rating” when he returned from duty, and most of that can be attributed to PTSD.

“Jared Hale needs the kind of intensive treatment that is not available when someone is incarcerated in a penitentiary,” Paparian said. “This situation should not become any more tragic than it already is.”

Hale and his three friends, all of them stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, went to Hennessey’s Tavern in Dana Point the night of Feb. 13, 2012, according to Cornwell. About 1:50 a.m. Feb. 14, Hale and his friends left the bar and got into a Dodge Stratus, with Hale driving, the prosecutor said.

Hale was driving north on Golden Lantern Street in Dana Point when he lost control of the car about 2 a.m. at a curve in the road at Terra Vista, Cornwell said. The sedan slammed into a tree.

Sgt. Jeremiah Callahan, 23, of Chadron, Nebraska, and Cpl. Christopher Arzola, 21, of Westfield, Massachusetts, were pronounced dead at the scene. Cpl. Jason Chleborad, 22, of Rapid City, South Dakota, was pronounced dead about an hour after arriving at Mission Hospital.

All three were data network specialists who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2008.

Hale was treated for brain trauma and a broken arm.