Thread: CO-Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty, Killing 3 in Colo. Crash

Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty of Killing 3 in Colo. Crash
Feb 23, 2010 2:54 PM EST

An illegal immigrant was convicted Tuesday in a crash that killed three people, including a 3-year-old boy inside an ice cream shop.

Jurors found Francis Hernandez, 25, of Guatemala guilty of vehicular homicide and other charges.

Prosecutors said Hernandez was driving an SUV at twice the speed limit when it crashed into a pickup truck, which in turn crashed into an ice cream store in the east Denver suburb of Aurora in September 2008.

The case sparked calls for immigration reform after Hernandez avoided deportation despite a dozen prior arrests in Colorado. Authorities said he used 12 aliases and two dates of birth to slip under the radar of immigration officials.

Killed in the crash were Marten Kudlis, who was inside the shop with his mother; Patricia Guntharp, 49, who was driving the truck; and her passenger Debra Serecky, 52.

Prosecutors said Hernandez ran a red light and was going more than 80 mph in a 40-mph zone when Guntharp turned left in front of him.

Defense lawyers argued that Hernandez's cousin was driving the SUV and that police ignored a witness report that there were two people in the vehicle. The cousin was later killed in a shooting.

The defense also said Guntharp shared the blame for the crash because an autopsy report showed she had methamphetamine in her system.

Prosecutors said Hernandez's DNA was on the driver-side air bag, and there was no evidence Guntharp was driving badly.


http://us.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?p ... pageNum=-1

Guilty verdict for man in triple-fatal ice cream shop crash
posted by: Sara Gandy
reported by: Shawn Patrick

CENTENNIAL - For the past year and a half, Marat Kudlis has waited for this decision. A guilty verdict for the man who caused a collision that killed Kudlis' toddler.

Marten Kudlis was one of three killed Sept. 4, 2008 in a chain-reaction collision outside a Baskin-Robbins. Francis Hernandez was arrested after he crashed a Suburban into the ice cream shop off of Havana and Mississippi. Patricia Guntharp, 49, Debra Serecky, 52 and the child were killed and three other people suffered serious bodily injuries.

"If it happened to your kid, you'd feel the same way," Marat Kudlis said.

On Tuesday, it took a jury of six men and six women less than four hours to find Hernandez guilty of the 19 counts against him following a two-week trial. Those charges include leaving the scene of an accident, child abuse, vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, driving under restraint and assault in the third degree.

Hernandez's defense attorneys had spent the better part of the trial arguing that someone else was in the vehicle and could have been behind the wheel the night of the fatal crash.

Police say Hernandez was driving between 70 and 80 mph at the time of the wreck.

"He was weaving in and out of traffic. That's what witnesses testified to. His behavior was extremely reckless and the jury found that was the case," prosecutor Karen Pearson said.

"The guy was going too fast," Marat Kudlis said. "He screwed up everybody's families, including mine."

Marat Kudlis says the person who has been most affected was nowhere near reporters after the verdict, his wife.

"It's been rough. She was in the Baskin-Robbins. She was inside the store when this occurred. It was a lot rougher for her than it was for me," he said.

Defense attorneys also argued that Aurora Police made too many mistakes in the investigation.

In the end, jurors were not convinced those mistakes were part of a cover up.

"He would've been four-and-a-half yesterday. What I would've preferred to have done yesterday, instead of worrying about what the jury might say, is play with him. Hang out with him. Give him hugs, give him kisses. That's what I wanted to do," Marten Kudlis' uncle, Edie Kudlis, said.

Sentencing for Hernandez is set for April 5.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx? ... &catid=339

Hernandez guilty on 19 charges
By Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/23/2010 10:31:04 AM MST
Updated: 02/23/2010 04:13:39 PM MST

Related Stories:
Feb 23:
Jury starts deliberations on crash that killed three at Aurora ice cream shop
Feb 20:
Investigator in traffic-fatality trial has "credibility issue," judge tells Aurora jury
Feb 19:
Alleged police wrongdoing dominates discussions in Francis Hernandez trial
Feb 18:
Aurora detective in ice cream shop death case is subject of internal investigation
Aurora detective casts doubt on his work in fatal-crash probe
Feb 17:
Defense in ice cream shop deaths makes gains with testimony about "inaccurate" Aurora police report
Experts say speed made Aurora crash that killed 3 inevitable
Feb 16:
3-year-old died within minutes of Aurora ice cream shop crash
Feb 13:
Blood on driver-side air bag linked to man accused in fatal crash at ice cream shop
Feb 12:
Defense asks for dismissal in Aurora ice cream shop case
Girlfriend testifies defendant's cousin was also in SUV at time of ice-cream-shop crash
Feb 11:
Girlfriend swears second man was in crashed truck
Mom testifies on boy's death in chain-reaction wreck at Aurora ice-cream shop


CENTENNIAL — Arapahoe County jurors today returned guilty verdicts in 18 criminal charges against Francis Hernandez, the man accused of causing a car accident that killed three people in 2008.

Hernandez was charged with 19 criminal counts, including vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, and child abuse resulting in death related to the deadly crash at an Aurora Baskin-Robbins shop.

After the verdict, Arapahoe County District Court Judge John Wheeler found Hernandez guilty of the 19th charge, driving while under restraint, in a trial before the court.

Hernandez faces more than 100 years in prison if Wheeler sentences him to consecutive terms on April 5.

"This guy is guilty. This guy is a baby killer," said Marat Kudlis, father of 3-year-old Marten Kudlis, who was killed in the crash. "He should be where he is."

The verdict was read just after 10:30 a.m. Jurors received the case at about 2:30 p.m. Monday and deliberated for less than four hours.

After the verdict, jurors leaving the courthouse declined to comment. Defense attorneys also left the courtroom without talking to the media, but an appeal can be expected.

Almost a dozen Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies were in the courtroom for the verdict, as were Hernandez's mother-in-law Rosa Avelar, and his two daughters, Natalie, 2, and Destiny, 4.

"He was at fault, but it wasn't all his fault," Avelar said, referring to reports that the driver of the truck Hernandez hit with his Chevy Suburban was high on methamphetamines and crossed a double-yellow line as she made a left turn to enter a strip mall on South Havana Street on Sept. 4, 2008.

Prosecutors say Hernandez was driving between 70 and 80 mph on Havana when he hit the small pickup driven by Patricia Guntharp, who was turning left into a strip mall.

Her pickup careened into a Baskin-Robbins store, killing Guntharp, 49, and her passenger,

"Justice has served the families of the victims in this case," prosecutor Karen Pearson said. "His behavior was extremely reckless and a jury that was the case."

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys attempted to plant reasonable doubt by focusing on mistakes made by Aurora traffic investigators. Defense attorney Chris Baumann said the jury could not trust the word of lead traffic detective Johnny Lee, a "golden boy" with little investigative experience who was on the police department fast track.

Lee testified last week that he provided "inaccurate evidence" to the court. Specifically, he said he accidentally deleted the original arrest affidavit then re-entered it. But he failed to include that one witness said he saw two people inside Hernandez's Chevy Suburban after the accident.

The defense is saying that Hernandez's cousin, who was shot and killed last year, was also inside the Suburban and could have been the driver. Prosecutors say Hernandez was the driver and lone occupant.

"Everything was viewed from a distorted prism," Baumann said. "Detective Lee is your filter in this case and how can you trust him?"

Baumann said police never considered the possibility of another driver and never tried to interview Hernandez's cousin, Christian Hernandez, before he died. They never searched Francis Hernandez's vehicle for other DNA. Francis Hernandez's blood was found on the driver's side air bag.

In a written statement, the Aurora Police Department said it is conducting an internal review into the actions of Lee and the overall investigation.

Hernandez moved here with his parents from Guatemala when he was a boy and was in this country illegally. He had been arrested for numerous traffic offenses and other violations, but authorities failed to deport him.

The Kudlis has filed a civil lawsuit against Hernandez, the Guntharp family and the agencies that let Hernandez slip through the cracks.

Guntharp had high levels of methamphetamine in her system when Hernandez crashed into her pickup, medical investigators said.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14454702


55 Comments so far

DENVER Media and Their Reports, beside the two above

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22 ... etail.html
ABC 7. this has videos and has links to all the stories since the deadly accident

http://cbs4denver.com/local/hernandez.f ... 13730.html
CBS 4

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-baskin-ro ... 8170.story
FOX 31- 55 Comments here

Three U.S. Citizens, are dead because an ILLEGAL was in the United States driving drunk; if he were not in the U.S. ILLEGALLY the three Citizens would be alive.

Originally Posted by lccat

Three U.S. Citizens, are dead because an ILLEGAL was in the United States driving drunk; if he were not in the U.S. ILLEGALLY the three Citizens would be alive.

I agree, why are not the politicians who didn't deport him facing charges as accomplices?

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4955--0-0.html

ALIPAC first reported on this story in Sep 2008, and provided this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRr66E0ofU

The video says that the illegal alien driver was driving with an expired driver license, something that this recent report, about the jury's verdict of guilty, doesn't mention.

Isn't it possible to sue the government for allowing this to happen?