California driver gets 13 years for 100-mph DUI crash that killed Lyft passenger, injured 2 others
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A 22-year-old Caifornia woman was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison Wednesday after being convicted in connection with a drunken driving crash last March that killed a Lyft customer and left another victim with severe brain damage.
Alondra Selena Marquez of San Diego pleaded guilty last month to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury in the crash that killed passenger Giao Pham, 40, of San Francisco and injured friend Andy Lynn, San Diego's FOX 5 reported. In addition, the Lyft driver suffered minor injuries, the station reported.
Marquez was traveling at more than 100 mph at the time of impact, authorities said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pham and Lynn were in town for a wedding and had coincidentally been drinking at the same bar as Marquez. They took a Lyft but she reportedly refused rides from several friends, FOX 5 reported.
At a victim-impact hearing held last week, Pham’s partner of 11 years, John Lawhead, demanded that Marquez take responsibility for her actions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Show remorse! Do you understand what you've done?" he asked her.
"Show remorse! Do you understand what you've done?"
Around 40 friends and family members of Pham attended the sentencing hearing.
"Giao did the right thing and took a Lyft car home, but is now dead, while the defendant decided to break the law and drive drunk, yet she is still alive,” Pham’s sister, Nguyet Pham, said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lynn said he is still suffering from the “consequences of her decisions,” and claims he now needs a caregiver.
"Every day, I have to learn to eat, use the bathroom, to walk," he said.
Marquez’s blood-alcohol level was more than three times the limit and she was driving at speeds topping 100 mph before the crash near Balboa Park.
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Marquez apologized for the “horrible situation” she caused but said she has no memory of the crash, according to FOX 5.
"I need to suffer the consequences," she added.