SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – An emotional sentencing hearing was held downtown Tuesday for a driver behind a fatal Chollas View crash last March.
In March, 36-year-old Jacqueline Castillo reportedly had drugs in her system when blew through an intersection in Chollas View, slamming her car into another car, killing 62-year-old Brenda Lee.
“I want to put a face to that name. Brenda Doreen Lee was my sister,” said Lee’s brother, Ronnie Lee, as he held her framed photo up for the courtroom and Castillo to see. “You made choices to get loaded. You made choices to drive on a suspended licensed. You made a choice to drive erratically."
The crash happened in the early afternoon by an elementary school. Castillo later pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
“The horrifying images I saw will never be removed from my mind,” said Lee’s son, Myrell Johns. He fought off tears as he described how his family’s life has been destroyed. “I often think about my mother's terrifying thoughts that may have occurred moments before and after the impact of this person's vehicle plowing through my mother's driver side door."
Judge Laura Halgren sentenced Castillo to six years in prison.
“We're all human but I believe that every mistake doesn't deserve forgiveness,” Johns told the courtroom.
