Pepperdine Law Student Convicted of Murder Following Deadly DUI Crash [Orange County, CA]

ORANGE COUNTY, CA (April 30, 2024) — Richard Lindwall III, a former third-year law student at Pepperdine University, has been convicted of second-degree murder following a fatal DUI crash that claimed the life of 41-year-old Carlos Mendez. 

 

The Orange County District Attorney reported that the crash occurred on August 3, 2017, when Lindwall drove under the influence with a blood-alcohol level four times the legal limit.

 

The Pepperdine law student DUI crash took place as Lindwall was speeding at over 90 miles per hour along La Palma Avenue in Yorba Linda. He lost control while navigating a curve and collided head-on with Mendez’s vehicle. 

 

The impact was so severe that it dislodged the engine and front axle of Mendez’s car. At the crash scene, authorities found broken beer bottles in Lindwall’s car and determined that he was also under the influence of prescription medications.

 

This conviction marks Lindwall’s second serious offense involving impaired driving; he previously served a year in prison for a 2011 DUI crash in Arizona that severely injured his girlfriend. Despite this history, Lindwall had been accepted into Pepperdine’s law program, where he was studying at the time of the fatal accident.

 

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer reportedly remarked, “This was a tragedy that never had to happen. Instead of practicing law, Richard Lindwall will be spending years behind bars because he refused to learn his lesson that drinking and driving is dangerous.”