Roger Avary Pleads Guilty to Vehicular Manslaughter and DUI

Posted on August 31, 2009

Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, Beowulf) has plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter and DUI. The charges derived from a January, 2008, car accident in which Andreas Zini, a passenger in Avary's car, died from injuries sustained in the crash.

Avary will be sentenced on September 29. Avary originally plead not guilty in the incident, in which his wife Gretchen was injured. Avary ran his Mercedes into a telephone pole. He is currently out on bail.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department officials said Avary was driving the car when it slid into the pole about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 13, 2008, fatally injuring a passenger, Andreas Zini, 34, a resident of Italy who was staying at the Avary residence. Avary's wife, Gretchen Avary, 40, was ejected from the car and treated for nonfatal injuries.
His lawyer, Mark Werksman of Los Angeles, said after the accident that Avary was "grief-stricken" about the death of Zini.

Avary shared the 1995 Academy Award for the screenplay of Pulp Fiction with director Quentin Tarantino. He is currently out on bail.