Encinitas

A Sept. 21 trial date has been set for a 20-year-old man accused of second-degree murder and felony drunk driving for running down two young men along Cardiff’s Restaurant Row.

Rudy Martinez, of Oceanside, was ordered by Vista Superior Court Judge Zalman Scherer on Thursday to stand trial on charges stemming from the Feb. 7 accident.

Daniel McAllister, 19, and Michael Wolf, 25, died after being struck by Martinez’s car as they strolled along the shoulder of Old Highway 101 while waiting for Wolf’s girlfriend to finish work.

Both McAllister and Wolf were recovering from bouts with drug and alcohol abuse. At the time of the accident, the pair had just returned from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Martinez’s attorney, deputy public defender John Jimenez, unsuccessfully argued that the second-degree murder charge was too strict and should be rejected. Jimenez said he will appeal the decision to the 4th District Court of Appeal and file additional motions in Vista during the coming weeks in an effort to get the charges reduced.

If convicted, Martinez would be the first defendant in San Diego County to be found guilty of murder in a drunk-driving case. Martinez has been held in the County Jail at Vista Jail since the accident.