The trial of an alleged drunk driver continues this week in which he is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of his two passengers in La Jolla in 2020.

Attorney Jodi Green acknowledged to the jury that her client, Peter John Meno, 28, had been drinking at a party in Kearny Mesa, but “felt OK to drive” on Nov. 21, 2020.

Green said Meno’s two passengers, Jayden Rowley, 22, of Oceanside, and Matthew “Max” Cate, 19, of Vista, both “felt they could not drive.” Meno was driving in La Jolla at 3:15 a.m. and was looking for a taco shop that he thought would be open, she said.

“A terrible tragedy is the only way to describe what happened,” said Green, who added that both passengers apparently unfastened their seat belts as one passenger was ejected after Meno crashed into two trees.

Green said Rowley lowered the window and pulled himself partly outside the car just before the turn and apparently Cate did the same thing, as his head hit a tree. She said both passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.

“He had a lapse in judgment. He should not have been in that car driving,” said Green. “He did not act with gross negligence.”

Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright told jurors Meno acted as if “the rules don’t apply to him.” She said he was driving with a suspended license and drove at 85 mph on Torrey Pines Road before he was about to turn onto Girard Avenue.

Meno was driving his new 2020 Nissan Altima that was so new it still had paper license plates, said Bright. He lost control of the car when he turned onto Girard Avenue and struck two trees, she added.

The force of the impact sheared the front right tire off the car, and jurors were shown blown-up photos of the crashed vehicle.

Meno’s blood/alcohol level taken two hours after the crash was .087, and his estimated level at the time of the crash was .11 to .14, said Bright. The blood/alcohol level for felony drunk driving is .08.

The prosecutor said Meno dragged Cate, who was ejected, back to the car. Green said Meno called 911.

“Peter was speeding,” said Green, who said her client was traveling at 41 mph at the point of impact. The speed limit on Torrey Pines Road is 35 mph.

Meno, of San Diego, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with gross negligence, and two counts of drunk driving while making an unsafe turn. He is free on $100,000 bond.

A 12-member jury plus four alternates were sworn in on Jan. 12 by San Diego Superior Court Judge Evan Kirvin shortly before opening statements were made. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

Van Urtiaga, a former clerk at the Vons supermarket who was working the graveyard shift that night, testified he heard the crash and was outside when it happened.

“I saw Peter try to give CPR to one of the deceased,” said Urtiaga, who said Meno was “running around, screaming frantically, saying “don’t die!”

The clerk testified he was close enough to Meno to hear a 911 operator explain to Meno how to perform CPR.

Jeffrey Lee Brown, a homeless man who said he lived in the bushes across the street from Vons, testified the crash woke him up. “I have my own problems and situation. I stayed on my side of the street,” said Brown.

Police officer Stephen Rocha showed jurors the photos he took of the vehicle that included a large vodka bottle on the floor of the passengers’ seats. There was blood on the airbags, and the windshield was broken.