A teenage street racer was handed a 90-day home detention sentence for killing a California couple and leaving their twin girls orphaned.
Greg Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42, were instantly killed when the car they were traveling in was wiped out by then-17-year-old Cesar Morales in a horrific November 2022 crash in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The couple were miraculously survived by their twin daughters, Madison and Olivia, who were in the backseat aged seven years old at the time of the wreck.
More than two years after the deadly crash, Morales, who has been incarcerated in a Juvenile Hall, was sentenced on January 16, the day of his 20th birthday, to 90 days of electronic home monitoring with his parents.
Judge Susan Etezadi handed down the appallingly light sentence in the San Mateo County Juvenile Court earlier this month after finding Morales responsible for vehicular manslaughter rather than murder and denying to charge him as an adult.
The ultimate outcome left family members stunned as they believe he should have received more jail time for the senseless act.
‘I equate it to school shootings,’ Liza Spiridon, Grace’s sister, told KTVU News. ‘Until we make any changes, it’s going to keep happening. I equate a car to a weapon, just like a gun. You can treat a car like a weapon.’
Morales’ sentence requires him to remain at home with his parents except for school, medical appointments and other allowed activities. He will also remain under probation supervision for a maximum of one year, The Mercury News reported.
Cesar Morales, who is now 20-years-old, was sentenced to only 90 days of home detention for killing Greg Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42, while street racing in California back in 2022
The couple were miraculously survived by their then-seven-year-old twin daughters, Madison and Olivia, who were in the backseat at the time of the wreck
Relatives said the family of four were heading home from a dinner at their twin daughters’ grandparents house when Morales, who was 17 at the time, went careening into the couple’s car at more than 80 miles an hour
‘They are dissatisfied with the outcome, and we understand that,’ District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told KTVU. ‘I wish the law were different.’
In November of 2022, Morales was behind the wheel of his parents’ Mercedes reaching speeds of more than 80 miles an hour as he raced Kyle Harrison, who was 23 at the time, in his BMW.
Although the pair didn’t know one another, they stopped at the same light and ‘revved their engines’ when it turned green, investigators said.
About a half mile into the race, the Mercedes went careening into Greg and Grace’s car on El Camino Real in California’s Redwood City as they were turning left – instantly killing the couple and immediately orphaning the duo’s twin daughters, one of whom was injured from the impact.
‘We became instant parents,’ Spiridon, who is raising the the nine-year-old girls with her husband Jeff, told KTVU.
At the time of the tragedy, relatives said the family-of-four were heading home from a dinner with Madison and Olivia’s grandparents.
Last November, Judge Etezadi convicted Morales of two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter rather than the two counts of second-degree murder filed by prosecutors, The Mercury News reported.
Additionally, Etezadi found Morales guilty of three counts of engaging in a speed contest resulting in great bodily injury and one count of engaging in a speed contest.
Judge Susan Etezadi handed down the appallingly light sentence in the San Mateo County Juvenile Court earlier this month after finding Morales responsible for vehicular manslaughter rather than murder and denying to charge him as an adult
Morales was racing Kyle Harrison (pictured), who was 23 at the time, in his BMW. He is set to be sentenced next month and faces up to 9 years and 4 months in prison if convicted
Wagstaffe had asked the judge to have Morales tried as an adult, but his request was unsuccessful. He also believed that the judge could have at least sentenced him to an additional year in Juvenile Hall.
‘We didn’t agree with her on this one,’ Wagstaffe told KTVU. ‘We thought – our belief was that she missed on this one, but that’s how the system works. Two sides argue and the judge makes the call.’
Kevin Nowack, Morales’ attorney, said that the court was correct to sentence the 20-year-old street racer with manslaughter.
Nowack stated that the charge was not an offense eligible for transfer to adult court and that Morales had already spent more than two years behind bars during the case.
‘The sense of loss, grief, pain suffered by the Spiridon-Ammen family is immeasurable. I did my best at the disposition hearing to acknowledge their grief,’ he said in a statement, according to Mercury News.
‘This case is a terrible tragedy,’ he added. ‘The Spiridon-Ammen family has suffered greatly. However, the ruling and disposition in this case were proper and in accord with California statutory law and California case law.’
The other driver, Harrison, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and to racing Morales. He is set to be sentenced next month and faces up to 9 years and 4 months in prison if convicted.
Spiridon and Ammen’s family members spoke out at the hearing where they showed a video of the twin girls at different times in their lives.
The twin girls, who are now nine-years-old, are being raised by Grace’s sister, Liza Spiridon, and her husband Jeff
Spiridon said that she wants her sister and her brother-in-law to be remembered ‘for their kindness, their compassion, their love and their inclusivity’
Spiridon said that she wants her sister and her brother-in-law to be remembered ‘for their kindness, their compassion, their love and their inclusivity’ as they continue to raise their girls, KTVU reported.
‘Every family should have people like them,’ Wagstaffe told KTVU about Spiridon and Ammen.
‘Willing to give up their home, their whole life down the coast and move up here, so the girls can continue to grow up in the home they were born in with their parents.’
Morales was released from custody on Thursday afternoon and returned to his parents.
Despite the astounding length of the sentence, Spiridon hopes that young drivers learn to understand the dangers of speeding, and especially racing, while on the road.
‘We must hold everyone accountable,’ she said. ‘It’s also very concerning, the message it sends to other teen drivers, as well as street racers, especially as street racing has increased.’
