Cardiff

A former teacher from Cardiff was convicted Tuesday of two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, drunk driving and hit and run driving.

In a case closely watched by officials from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Robert Scott Carlton was found guilty by a San Diego Superior Court jury that deliberated less than four hours.

Carlton, who will turn 30 on Thursday, was ordered to County Jail without bail by Judge Jack Levitt after the verdict.

Carlton was convicted of killing two Fallbrook women, Teresa Motta, 20, and Paige Roark, 18, on April 14, 1984, on Interstate 5 in North County. The jury found that he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

The case was delayed by various motions filed by Carlton’s attorney, David Thompson, who appealed to the state Supreme Court for a motion to exclude the blood alcohol test result. He contended that sheriff’s deputies used excessive force to obtain the sample. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal in December.

Also injured in the crash was Jill Fehrenbach, 20, of Fallbrook, the driver of a car that was struck by Carlton’s car about 1 a.m. Her passengers were killed after her car went over an embankment and hit a tree.