Erika Lopez would give something for her 1-year-old daughter, Estrellita, to know her father.
She holds the little woman in entrance of framed photos of her husband on the wall of the bed room of their Anaheim residence, declaring the person who cherished her mom so properly that he’d deliver her a purple rose almost daily after work.
She shouts one of many first phrases in her budding vocabulary — “Papa! Papa!” — and pats the photographs along with her tiny palms.
On Jan. 25, 2023, Lopez’s husband, Alberto Vicente Lopez, and their 10-year-old daughter, Lucero, have been killed when a drunk driver crashed into the van they have been driving in on their manner house from church. Lopez, who was additionally within the van, together with their now 9-year-old son Anebel, was seven months pregnant with Estrellita on the time.
Erika Lopez and her household have been driving in a van on the way in which house from church when it was struck by a sedan pushed by a drunk driver in January 2023. Lopez’s husband and daughter died, together with one other van passenger.
(OnScene.TV)
“She’s going to by no means meet her sister. She’ll by no means know what it’s wish to run as much as her dad and provides him a hug,” Lopez advised The Occasions in Spanish.
Lopez, 33, wiped tears from her eyes as she spoke about her husband and daughter and the lives they may have lived. Nothing will deliver them again, she stated, however for greater than a 12 months she’s waited for justice and a few acknowledgment of the shattered goals she had for her household.
Inside a Santa Ana courtroom on Thursday, Superior Courtroom Decide Larry Yellin handed down the felony justice system’s measure of the tragedy.
Mario Armando Paz Jr. pleaded responsible to 3 felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter whereas intoxicated and two felony counts associated to driving inebriated inflicting damage, together with sentencing enhancements.
Yellin instantly sentenced him to 11 years in state jail, about half the time he may need confronted behind bars if he’d been discovered responsible by a jury. The decreased sentence is an acknowledgment that Paz accepted accountability for his actions early within the courtroom course of, Yellin stated.
A lady sitting behind the courtroom clutched a rosary and prayed quietly in Spanish because the choose spoke.
The courtroom had raised the opportunity of an 11-year time period at prior hearings, when Paz had indicated his want to plead responsible. Lopez strongly opposed the decreased sentence.
“It’s not sufficient,” Lopez, tears streaming down her face, advised Yellin in a press release to the courtroom earlier than he handed down the sentence. “My daughter just isn’t coming again in 11 years.”
Yellin nodded. There’s no quantity he might hand down as a sentence that will ever deliver again her husband or daughter, he responded, lamenting that he wished he had that energy.
Erika Lopez weeps whereas speaking in regards to the accident that took the lives of her husband and daughter in 2023.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
“My coronary heart as an individual breaks for you,” he stated. “The tragedy of this room is we will’t repair something.”
Unwelcome recollections of the second her household was ripped aside are seared in Lopez’s thoughts.
She remembers how blissful they have been as they left their church in Yorba Linda that night. Alberto, 36, Lucero, Anebel and her sister-in-law piled right into a van together with different churchgoers to make their manner house after Bible research. They rode by way of town streets into Placentia, the place they entered the intersection of Melrose Road and Orangethorpe Avenue. A sedan pushed by Paz slammed into the aspect of the van.
Alberto was thrown from the automobile and died on the scene, as did one other church member. Lopez stated her husband suffered a devastating head damage. She knew he was gone the second she noticed him, however nonetheless, she sat on the sidewalk subsequent to his physique and pleaded for him to outlive.
Lucero was taken by ambulance to a youngsters’s hospital, the place she was pronounced lifeless. Three different passengers with critical accidents have been taken to UCI Medical Middle for remedy.
The crash was so violent that the rear axle was ripped off the van. Shattered glass was strewn throughout the intersection as police investigated the scene.
Paz, then 24 years previous, was arrested on suspicion of driving beneath the affect. His blood alcohol degree was .14, or 75% larger than the authorized restrict, in response to courtroom information.
Erika Lopez holds her 1-year-old daughter, Estrellita, who was born just a few weeks after her father and sister have been killed when a DUI driver slammed into the van the household was driving in.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Occasions)
Paz’s legal professional declined to touch upon the case.
In looking for to boost Paz’s bail earlier than trial, Placentia Sgt. Frank Garza wrote in a declaration that “there isn’t a indication that he understands the seriousness or gravity of the tragedy he triggered.”
“The defendant confirmed no regret and was solely involved along with his instruments that have been left within the automobile he was driving,” Garza wrote.
Within the courtroom on Thursday, Paz spoke softly when acknowledging the phrases of his responsible plea and sentence. He seemed straight forward as Lopez delivered her remarks at a podium behind him.
Earlier than the sentence was imposed, Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Orue advised the courtroom that he opposed the 11-year time period. He famous that Paz had beforehand been arrested on suspicion of driving beneath the affect in January 2021 in Tustin, however expenses weren’t filed within the case.
“What the individuals pray for is that Mr. Paz learns his lesson and we by no means see him again right here,” Orue stated throughout the listening to.
Because the courtroom emptied out, Lopez sat on one of many wood benches that line the courthouse hallway. Estrellita, carrying a fluffy pink costume and two white flowers in her hair, slept soundly in a automotive seat close to her mom’s toes.
Along with her head in her palms, she wept.
