AZ: Wrong-way DUI driver gets prison for fatal crash

Wrong-way DUI driver gets prison for fatal crash
November 6, 2008


An illegal immigrant has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash on May 4 that killed a Chandler man.

Alonso Pena-Reyes, 20, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge on Sept. 30.

Pena-Reyes was driving the wrong way on the San Tan Freeway for several miles and failed to yield to a Phoenix police officer, according to an Arizona Department of Public Safety probable cause statement.

Pena-Reyes then struck another vehicle head-on and killed the victim, Nicholas Nemo, 35.

The defendant was intoxicated and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.244 percent.

Pena-Reyes was held non-bondable following his arrest due to his immigration status.

"This sentence will not begin to fill the victim's family's sense of loss, but it serves justice and will protect the community from a dangerous individual," said Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas.

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