Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sentence of six years in prison given in vehicular homicide case

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

At his sentencing hearing Tuesday, 21-year-old Jacob Williams sat quietly crying as photos of a man he killed nearly two years ago were shown in court.

In November, Williams pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide, great bodily injury by vehicle and DWI. On Tuesday, District Judge William Sanchez sentenced the Rio Communities man to six years in prison — the maximum according to the plea and disposition agreement.

But for the families of Quin Sanchez, the man who died that night, and the one other surviving victim, their lives will never again be the same. On Aug. 27, 2006, Sanchez, no relation to the judge, was riding his bike south on N.M. 47 in Rio Communities. His friend, Mary Ann Madrid, was sitting behind Sanchez enjoying the ride.

According to law enforcement reports, Williams was driving a van west on Goodman, failed to stop at the intersection and struck the motorcycle. Sanchez was pronounced dead on the scene and Madrid, who was thrown from the bike, was severely injured. She is now paralyzed as a result of her injuries.

During the sentencing hearing Tuesday, Sanchez's sister, Felicia Nieto, told the judge that Quin, the oldest of four siblings, made their family complete, and without him, they will never be the same again.

"We will never see him again, we will never hear his laugh again, we will never hear his jokes ... Quin was full of life," Nieto said. "We could all learn a few things from him on how he lived life to the fullest."

Nieto told the judge that her brother went on a ride on his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle that day, not knowing it would be his last. She said the loss of her brother has taken away the family's sense of security.

"We, as a family, have been robbed of the unconditional love that Quin had shared with us," Nieto said. "It is not right that I'm without him. It's not right that we received that dreaded phone call that night saying that Quin was dead. It is not right that our parents had to bury their first-born child.

"It is not right that my mother has to drive by the scene of the accident every day to go to work and see her son's name on that cross. It is not right that my dad has lost his best friend."

At the end of her statement, Nieto addressed Williams and told him that all the pain and suffering their family has been through could have been avoided if he had just chosen not to drink and drive.

"In that moment, you changed our lives forever," she said. "Once you're done serving your time, just know that our sentence of losing Quin will go on for the rest of every family member's life."

Mary Ann Madrid, who wheeled her way to the microphone, told the judge that she has finally been able to forgive Williams for what he did. She said that while she does forgive, the scars and surgical pins she now has from head to toe would never allow her to forget.

"I lost a friend, I lost the use of my legs, I lost a life that I was happily in," Madrid said. "And, for what? Is a few drinks worth taking two innocent lives? Quin didn't deserve this, and we sure didn't ask for it."

Madrid said in the months after the accident, after waking up from a medically induced coma and realizing that she would probably never walk again, she couldn't look at herself in the mirror. She said the scars were too much to handle.

"I couldn't believe that this had happened," Madrid said. "I didn't want to believe it, I didn't want to face reality.

"Not long after I was told that Quin passed away, a doctor came into my room with a pointy object in his hand," she said. "He began to poke at the bottom of my feet. I couldn't feel anything — not a tickle, not a pain, not anything."

Madrid said she doesn't know if she'll ever walk again, but she will never give up. She said that she hopes that what happened to her would be a lesson to others about the dangers of drinking and driving.

"Everyone needs to pay for their actions, especially if a life is taken," Madrid said.

Williams apologized to the victims and their families through a letter read Tuesday by his attorney Laurel Carrier. He said that he didn't intend to drink and drive that day, but thought that he was in the better position to drive than his passenger.

"I did not think one beer would impair my judgment, and for that, I am sorry," Williams wrote. "Not one hour goes by that I'm not consumed by guilt or remorse. My mind plays over and over the events of that night, and I wish that there was something I personally could do to rid you each of the loss you have suffered."

Williams also wrote that he's not making excuses for his actions and that he is willing to pay the consequences. He apologized specifically to the Sanchez family for their loss and told Madrid that he can't imagine what she's been through.

"I cannot find the words to express the sorrow that I feel for my part in your situation," Williams wrote. "I am deeply and truly sorry."

Before sentencing Williams, Judge Sanchez said that this was a difficult day for everyone involved. He said it amazes him how many DWIs that there are in Valencia County and throughout the state.

"I have no doubt in my mind that you're remorseful for your actions," Judge Sanchez told Williams. "But with all the media, all the attention there is on DWIs, everyone should be on notice. There's the saying, 'You drink, you drive, you lose.' There should be another one, 'You drink, you drive, you kill someone, you go to prison.'"

Sanchez ordered that Williams turn himself in to authorities by the end of business Wednesday. His attorney had asked the judge to wait on sending him to prison until he undergoes a second surgery on his ankle, which she says is to take place in the next 10 weeks. Raynald Montaño, the special prosecutor in the case, recommended that Williams start serving his sentence as soon as possible.

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