A man convicted of driving drunk, leading to the death of a pedestrian in University Heights, was sentenced Friday to 22 years to life in state prison.
Brandon Allen Janik, 38, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of murder and other charges for running a red light and hitting Joshua Gilliland, 47, on the night of June 10, 2023.
Janik also fled the scene and tried to cover up his involvement in the collision that ultimately killed the bartender from Cheers on Adams Avenue.
Gilliland was walking to work when he was struck while crossing El Cajon Boulevard at the three-way intersection of Normal Street and El Cajon and Park boulevards. Paramedics took Gilliland to a hospital, where he died four days later.
In the days after hitting Gilliland, prosecutors say Janik had the smashed windshield on his vehicle replaced and claimed to his insurance company that the car sustained damage while parking it at his apartment.
Deputy District Attorney Hailey Williams told jurors that after drinking at bars in Hillcrest throughout the day, Janik was found by bystanders passed out behind the wheel of a car stopped in the middle of University Avenue.
After Janik was pulled out of the vehicle, he told the bystanders attending to him, “Thank you. You have no idea how much you are helping me. I already have a DUI,” according to Williams.
Due to a high volume of emergency calls that night, police were unable to respond to the multiple 911 callers who reported the stopped car, prosecutors said, but paramedics did respond and assess Janik.
Williams said Janik assured the paramedics he would call an Uber or walk home, then waited until they left, drove off and struck Gilliland a few minutes later.
That prior DUI Janik referred to with the bystanders was from a 2016 crash in which he was behind the wheel of a car that veered off state Route 52 and rolled over multiple times, causing him serious injuries.
Prosecutors charged Janik, who was arrested three months after Gilliland’s death, with murder based on the prior DUI conviction.
On Friday, Janik was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder count, plus an additional seven years for hit-and-run and insurance fraud.
At trial, Janik’s defense attorney, Justin Murphy, did not deny that Janik struck Gilliland, nor that he had a responsibility to stop after the crash.
Instead, Murphy argued there was no evidence to prove Janik was intoxicated at the time he struck Gilliland, He argued prosecutors were relying on unreliable witness accounts and Janik’s credit card purchases for alcoholic drinks at several nearby bars. Murphy said no one could speak to how much of those drinks – if any – Janik had consumed.
At Janik’s sentencing, Murphy acknowledged his client “made the horrible decision to drive under the influence” and that he “subsequently made efforts to cover that up.”
Janik, who apologized to Gilliland’s loved ones in attendance at the hearing, described himself as “a broken man full of remorse” and said “I’m angry and disgusted with myself for causing the pain and emptiness in your broken hearts.”
Janik said, “Although I didn’t know Mr. Gilliland, seeing the grief that my awful conduct has caused his family, friends and loved ones sitting here today … it’s clear that he was widely loved by many. I’m so sorry for the unnecessary pain and loss that you’re all suffering by my hands.”
Among Gilliland’s friends and family who delivered statements Friday were his two older sisters, Lindy May and Stephany Hughes.
In a statement read in court by her husband, Hughes described how she traveled to San Diego to be with her brother, who was unconscious in the hospital for the remaining days of his life.
“I was privileged to be with Josh on the first day of his life as his big sister, and the moment when he took his last breath and passed away,” Hughes wrote.
She wrote that Gilliland, a Kansas native, had expressed interest in moving back to his home state and she had looked forward to spending more time with him, but “that was stolen from me.”
May said her brother “was arguably one of the most intelligent people I have ever known, but he never flaunted that he knew more than anyone else. He never made anyone feel lesser than him.”
She chastised Janik for doing something she said was “entirely avoidable” and said he “went to such unfathomable lengths to make sure that he did not have to pay for what he did.”
