Courtoom Update: Caspillo Behaved Strangely Before and After Fatal Accident

The man accused of causing a fatal Lafayette car crash three years ago was so out of it in the hours after the accident that he demanded to have sex with his wife in the hospital, Gwynn Caspillo told jurors at her husband's trial Monday morning.

David Caspillo, 41, of Tracy is accused of gross vehicular manslaughter for a pileup that left one man dead and others injured in front of Acalanes High School in 2007.  He is alleged to have plowed his BMW into a line of cars stopped at a light, killing Dale Zenor, 55, of Walnut Creek. 

Caspillo's attorney says he was "legally unconscious" at the time of the accident and therefore unable to recognize the danger at hand.

In the hospital room later that night his wife said he told her, "Right now you are going to get undressed and we are going to have sex.  I am God and I'm going to put Baby Jesus in your body," Gwynn Caspillo told jurors.  He said it in front of his mother, and that's when Caspillo's wife said she decided to request a CT-scan, fearing her husband might be suffering from a brain tumor.

A software consultant, Caspillo had been behaving strangely since getting connected with a faith-connected life-coaching endeavor that inspired him to pursue entrepreneurial ventures in setting up new companies, she said.  Caspillo had long been a religious man, attending church on Sundays when their schedule permitted, but he had never displayed the sort of zealotry she said she saw in the weeks before the March accident.

"He thought God was speaking directly to him," his wife said.  She told jurors she wanted to tone down his religious proclamations fearing it might have a negative impact on his paying job.

The week of the accident, she explained, Caspillo was juggling his usual responsibilities as a traveling consultant with an IT firm, a father of two children and his newfound business endeavors, which included plans to open a fitness center with a Southern California man. 

According to his wife, the week went like this:

-On Sunday, they went to church and Caspillo began crying in the pew, saying that God was speaking to him.  He had been eating very little and getting by on about three hours of sleep per night, she said.

-On Monday, he left his home in Tracy well before dawn to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Georgia, where he was doing software consulting for his paying job.

-Tuesday he arrived home late and had trouble sleeping, rising periodically to check e-mail.

-Wednesday, he drove back to San Francisco for a meeting and called his wife late to say his business associate didn't have cash and would be staying at their house in Tracy, but she refused because she had never met the man. 

"It was out of character for him to insist that someone we had never met stay at our house," she said, adding that she suggested they pay to put him up in a hotel.

-Thursday, the day of the crash, she spoke with her husband several times on the cell phone.  He wanted her to organize a large party for his 39th birthday that night, and she complied, booking a section of P.F. Chang's in Fremont for a 7 p.m. gathering that night.  At 1 p.m. he called again urging her to invite various friends and family to the party and the next call to her from his cell phone was from a stranger.  There had been an accident.  "She gave him the phone and he said, 'I just want you to know that I love you.'"

Caspillo's sister offered similar testimony, saying that he had been discussing God during his entrepreneurial business meetings believing himself to be among the "chosen ones," and he seemed disinterested in food, which was unusual for him.  She also said she spoke with him on the cell phone several times on the afternoon of the accident and that he seemed to be obsessed with inviting people to his birthday party.

Cheryl Caspillo Svenson was pregnant at the time, and the strangest thing she said her brother told her that afternoon briefly brought tears to her eyes in court on Monday.  "David told me that I was going to have his baby," she said, noting that he attached great significance to the anticipated birth date, which he pegged at 7/7/07.  "I told him, 'C'mon, David, the baby is not due until August 3rd.'"

Deputy District Attorney Simon O'Connell finished the morning with two witnesses who had also talked to Caspillo via cell phone on the afternoon of the accident.  One man said he called Caspillo at 3:18 p.m., about an hour before the fatal crash, to say that his brother, who was flying from Arizona to meet with Caspillo about a business deal, had been delayed two hours.

"He was in a car leaving a meeting," said Brian Hughes, recalling that March afternoon three years ago.  "He said he had to get turned around to go in the other direction."

Caspillo's supervisor said he called about 10 minutes after that.  "Dave was off that day and I called to wish him a happy birthday," said Zane Edwards, Caspillo's boss at the consulting firm.  "David said he was getting ready to go to lunch with his brother."

Caspillo didn't seem to be acting strange to him, his supervisor said, adding that he had done most of the talking during the brief call.

Attorneys are expected to make closing arguments this afternoon and hand the case to the jury.