Thread: Illegal Immigrant Pleads Guilty in Fatal I-40 Wreck (NC)

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2049661/

Illegal Immigrant Pleads Guilty in Fatal I-40 Wreck
Posted: Today at 3:30 p.m.
Updated: 1 minute ago

Raleigh — An illegal immigrant who was driving drunk and veered across a highway median, slamming into two cars during the morning commute and killing a Cary man, pleaded guilty Thursday.

Ricardo De Latorre, 24, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony assault involving seriously bodily injury and one count of felony death by a motor vehicle in connection with the June 4 death of George Alwyn Smith, 54.

Through a translator, he apologized Thursday before being sentenced to 25 to 39 months in prison and a deportation after his sentence.

Smith was on his way to Duke University, where he worked as a computer programmer, at about 7:15 a.m. when the Chevrolet Tahoe De Latorre was driving veered across the median onto westbound Interstate 40 near the Wade Avenue split in Raleigh and hit Smith's car.

The Tahoe later struck another vehicle, injuring Carolyn Hageman, 35, of Apex.

"I will never forget what it sounded like when I was hit – the metal crushing or the horrid smell of the airbag when it deployed," Hageman said Thursday.

Wake County Assistant District Attorney Adam Moyers said De Latorre's blood alcohol concentration at a local hospital was .14 and that De Latorre admitted he was drinking the night before the accident.

De Latorre was captured twice in April 2004 trying to cross from Mexico into California. His fingerprints helped determine his identity.

He has no prior criminal convictions, but authorities have said he might have used aliases while in the United States and that there was a three-year period in which U.S. Immigration and Cusoms Enforcements had no record of him.

Smith's family and friends were in court for Thursday's proceedings, carrying with them photos of him.

They described him as a man who touched many lives in a way he never talked about publicly.

"After he died, there were people who would come up to me and tell me, like in the video, 'He came over with a car full of stuff after my house burned down,'" his son, Chris Smith, said.
Reporter: Amanda Lamb
Photographer: Chad Flowers
Web Editor: Kelly Gardner

What they left OUT are the facts:
1) SUV was stolen
2) He had no license
3) he was on his way TO WORK (the illegal and passenger)

And, how the hell is he only getting 25 to 39 MONTHS??? He killed someone. Not to mention all the other laws he broke.

I know! As soon as I heard this I started firing off emails... if a LEGAL NC resident did this they would have had the book thrown at them, then been buried UNDER the jail. I am so steamed right now I can't even tell you. If I find out WHICH Judge gave this bastard such a light sentence I will be making a visit to his/her chambers on my next visit home!

Not to mention... driving without a license will get you 30 days EASY. How about driving a stolen SUV? Is that not GRAND THEFT???? Raleigh is considered a sanctuary city, so now I know why so many illegals LOVE NC.

He was drunk at 7 in the morning!!! Is there any time that you are safe from illegal alien drunk drivers?????

Originally Posted by gofer

He was drunk at 7 in the morning!!! Is there any time that you are safe from illegal alien drunk drivers?????

Shows you how hard working he was. Not going to let a little drinking the night before keep him from getting up drunk and going to work...