Riverside, California –
A jury on Friday convicted a Southern California man of murdering three teenage boys after playing a doorbell prank in 2020, according to newspaper reports.
The victims were six teenagers who were in a Toyota Prius on January 19, 2020. The driver of the Prius lost control and the sedan smashed into a tree in Temescal Valley, about 60 miles (97 km) southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Friends dared a boy to jump into the pool or play in the “Ding Dong ditch” at night. A boy who ran to Chandra’s house, a stranger to the teenager, rang the doorbell and when Chandra opened the door, he returned to his car.
A jury found Chandra guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. About 30 people, including three survivors, attended Friday’s reading of the verdict, according to The Press-Enterprise.
Chandra’s attorney, David Wohl, and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
According to The Press-Enterprise, Chandra took the witness stand during the trial and testified that one of the boys rang the doorbell, exposed her buttocks and ran away. Chandra, he testified, complied because he feared for his family’s safety and wanted to express his anger. He was mischievous and said, “I’m very, very angry.”
Chandra also testified that she drank 12 bottles of beer hours before the crash, the paper reported. He said he did not intend to hit the Prius and testified that he did not stop after rear-ending the sedan. (159km/h) Before collision.
The crash has killed Corona’s 16-year-old Daniel Hawkins. Corona’s Drake Lewis. Jacob Ivascu of Riverside, according to the Riverside County Coroner’s Office.
Sergio Campsano was an 18-year-old Prius driver at the time. He and his then-13-year-old Joshua Hawkins and Joshua Ivascu survived the crash and testified against Chandra during the trial.
In 2020, when the killing took place, Chandra had already faced criminal charges for alleged domestic violence.
