Over a decade ago, Roger Avary caused a car accident that resulted in the passing away of his friend, who was on his honeymoon at the time. As a result, Roger Avary had to serve jail time.
The Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction got into a fatal accident on January 13, 2008, while driving in Ventura County, California. To make matters worse, he was drunk at the time.
He was speeding at 100 mph when he lost control of his Mercedes and crashed into a telephone pole. During the unfortunate event, two people were with him: Andreas Zini and Gretchen Avary.
#XIII saison 2 #série @canalplus dès le 15 octobre avec @Roxane_Mesquida par #Roger @AVARY #1000 #photo @EuropaCorp pic.twitter.com/foZsVv3h
— Sylvain Merle (@sylerm) September 18, 2012
For those who aren’t aware, Gretchen is the wife of Roger, and Andreas Zini was his friend. Sadly, the accident took the life of Andreas Zini, who was 34 years of age at the time. Additionally, Roger’s wife was thrown from the car and suffered serious injuries.
Then, law enforcement responded to the accident on Sunday morning. His people initially released him from jail on a $50,000 bail, but later, authorities charged the Oscar-winning writer with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving.
On September 29, 2009, the court sentenced Roger Avary to one year in jail and five years of probation.
To make matters worse, Andreas Zini’s family filed a civil lawsuit against him. After consulting with his lawyers, he thought it would be best to settle the case. Therefore, Avary and Zini’s family settled the case for $4.1 million.
Roger Avary was briefly allowed to work while in prison!
During jail time, the writer participated in temporary work leave, which allowed him to work during the day and return to prison at night. Unfortunately, the program didn’t last very long.
Roger Avary made several posts on Twitter about his experiences in jail. When the people in charge discovered this, they weren’t happy. Because of this, they removed him from the program, and he lost the little freedom he had.
I didn't know much about about Avary apart from him co-writing & producing some of Tarantino's films & writing/directing Killing Zoe but wow this was a journey, constant laughs, fasinating stories & then at the end immense emotion as he speaks about his tragedy! Highly recommend! pic.twitter.com/tL1uStCNBJ
— Steve Trevaskis (@PistoleroFilms) December 11, 2024
To make things worse, they transferred him to the Ventura County Jail, but he did not spend much time there. Nevertheless, people understood it was difficult for him to go through.
In December 2024, he appeared in The Joe Rogan Experience. There, he reflected on his time in the jail and described it as an ecstatic experience, further explaining that it provided him with profound personal insights.
Although he reflected on a few positive things, there were also many negative moments. In the podcast, he said, “When you see someone get hanged by their celly in a cell, or when you know the, ‘Oh, that Salvadorian, MS13 hitman guy, he’s gonna kill that guy dude.”
Roger further added, “He’s gonna kill him in the yard. I’ll go lock myself in my cell. Literally, I’ll go lock myself in. Shut the door because you know sh*t is gonna go down. So, that was everyday.”
Additional Information
- The Canadian film and television producer, director, and screenwriter has a net worth of $5 million.
- Roger Avary’s father was a mining engineer, and his mother was a physical therapist. He is of mixed ethnicity, as his dad is Brazilian, and his mom is German.
