Mario Iorgulescu, son of former Professional Football League (LPF) president Gino Iorgulescu, was sentenced on Wednesday by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 13 years and 8 months in prison for killing a young man while driving drunk and drugged, according to the minutes. The ruling is final.
He had been initially sentenced in the first trial to 15 years and eight months in prison for murder and driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs (cocaine), in connection with the car accident he caused in 2019, resulting in the death of a man. On September 11, the judges from the Court of Appeal of Bucharest completed the debates in the case in the appeal phase.
Mario Iorgulescu is hospitalized in a private clinic in Italy, his parents managed to get him out of the country with a private plane, immediately after the accident. He was not heard by prosecutors or magistrates, during the criminal prosecution or the court proceedings.
In the evening of September 8, 2019, Mario Iorgulescu attended a party given by a friend’s family in the village of Gulia, Tărtăşeşti commune, where he consumed alcohol. At one point, he found out that his ex-girlfriend, whom he had just broken up with, was in a club in Herăstrău Park. The witnesses say that he argued continuously on the phone with his ex-girlfriend, he was nervous and shouted, but he promised the host that he would not get behind the wheel in his condition.
At the end of the party, around 2:50 a.m., amid a fit of jealousy and in a state of rage, having a blood alcohol level of 1.96 g/l and being under the influence of cocaine, he got into his car, an Aston Martin DBS model, and left for the Capital.
He entered Bucharest through Chitila, traveling at speeds between 140 km/h and 164 km/h (moments captured by the video cameras on the route), at the intersection between Chitilei Highway and Teodor Neagoe Street, he entered the red traffic light at speed of 145 km/h, after which he accelerated to 162 km/h when he passed another vehicle traveling at low speed in lane I. Afterwards, he drove the car onto a curb, pressing the accelerator pedal to the maximum acceleration, entered the opposite direction, where he collided head-on, at a speed of 143 km/h, with a car driven by a man, who died on the spot.
A witness to the accident told the court horrible scenes from the collision scene, the driver of the other car being found thrown to the ground.
A few days after the accident, Mario Iorgulescu was transferred by his family to Italy, on a private plane, and hospitalized in a clinic.
He was sent to court, in absentia, and on February 10, 2023, he was sentenced by the Bucharest Court to 15 years and eight months in prison for murder and driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs (cocaine).
In the sentencing decision, Judge Manuela Orzaţă from the Bucharest Court mentioned that Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of the accident, he did not suffer and does not currently suffer from mental illnesses that would prevent him from being transferred from Italy to participate in the lawsuit filed by the Romanian authorities, and if he has medical conditions, he can be treated without problems in the penitentiary system in our country.