Immigrant Driver Gets 12.5 Years in Fatal Bus Crash (update)

Was going to piggyback this article to another thread but we have so many I decided to post separately.
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Immigrant Driver Gets 12.5 Years in Fatal Bus Crash
Wednesday, October 08, 2008


MARSHALL, Minn. —

A judge on Wednesday ordered a 12 1/2-year prison sentence for the woman convicted of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide in a school bus crash near Cottonwood.

In sentencing Olga Marina Franco Del Cid, Lyon County District Judge David Peterson said the families of the Lakeview School children who were injured or killed in the Feb. 19 crash will continue to struggle.

"Franco's sentence will end. For those parents dealing with injuries, it's a daily struggle. For the parents dealing with lost children, it's a lifetime of could-have-beens and might-have-beens that never will be," Peterson said.

The families of the four children who were killed — Jesse Javens, 13; his brother, Hunter Javens, 9; Emilee Olson, 9; and Reed Stevens, 12 — all spoke during the hearing, which lasted more than two hours. The judge also heard from a family whose children were among the 14 people injured.

Through an interpreter, Franco also made a statement, asking for forgiveness for using someone else's identity. She also asked for forgiveness for the crash, but still denied being the driver. Franco said that she's going through some of the same feelings as the victim's families, because she isn't able to be with her family.

Franco's defense had tried to argue that her boyfriend was driving the van, and that he fled after the crash. He has not been seen since.

But prosecutors argued during her trial that Franco had to be extricated from the driver's seat of the minivan, which hit the school bus after barreling through a stop sign.

In August, a jury convicted Franco of all 24 counts against her.

Franco still has the right to appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434621,00.html

Quote:

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Franco said that she's going through some of the same feelings as the victim's families, because she isn't able to be with her family.

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SO? If she had stayed in her country, she'd still be with her family and those kids would still be alive!

She's not the victim here, she is the criminal. NO SYMPATHY!

12 1/2 years for 4 young lives??? That's the travesty, she should have gotten at least 40 years!

Seems like an awfully light sentence.

Being an illegal ought to double or triple the sentence.

12.5 years/4 lives = 3.125 years/life, this is ridiculous.

With credit for good behavior in prison, she will serve, maybe, 4 years.

One year for each precious life. Our government has done this to us.

I also found this article on MSN, but it was on the crime page, NOT the race and ethnicity page.

It's funny, the race and ethnicity page headlined the "SC workers TORN from families" story, but they stick this story in a completely different area.

Does that make sense? The kids killed in the bus crash were quite literally torn from their families. Don't these stories belong in the same news section, if only for comparison?

OH yes, the driver of the van wasn't listed as an illegal immigrant. How convenient and sensitive for the author to conveniently omit such an important fact so the story can be stuck somewhere in the back of the news while "SC families torn apart" takes up the headlines... :evil:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jonhaloi

Seems like an awfully light sentence.

Being an illegal ought to double or triple the sentence.

12.5 years/4 lives = 3.125 years/life, this is ridiculous.

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I absolutely agree Jonhaloi! Her illegal status should have been considered an aggravating circumstance, which would have added time to the original sentence.

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/640*472/FRANCO1009-1franco1009.jpg[/img]

Olga Franco arrived at Lyon County Courthouse for her sentencing hearing on Wednesday. A jury convicted her of criminal vehicular homicide for a collision that killed four children on a school bus in Cottonwood, Minn.

Quote:

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Franco said that she's going through some of the same feelings as the victim's families, because she isn't able to be with her family.

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How dare she make this remark. The families of the victims WILL NEVER see their children again. Being unable to visit with family is no comparison to losing family members. :(

THESE DEATHS WOULD HAVE NEVER OCCURED IF THIS ILLEGAL ALIEN WASNT IN OUR COUNTRY. :evil:

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/640*471/2bus0220.jpg[/img]

[color=darkblue][b]The bus tipped onto a pickup truck; another vehicle appeared to have hit the bus from behind, according to eyewitness accounts. Before rescue crews arrived, drivers tried to help. “Everyone worked frantically to get the kids off that bus,â€

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/640*423/1bus022008.jpg[/img]

Rescue workers are seen at the site of a bus crash Tuesday near Cottonwood, Minn.


http://www.startribune.com/15776642.html

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/1bus022108.jpg

Jesse Javens , 13 , Cottonwood : A seventh-grader who liked to play basketball.

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/2bus022108.jpg

Hunter Javens , 9 , Cottonwood : One of a set of twins. His sister is named Sasha.

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/446*500/3bus022108.jpg[/img]

[color=darkblue][b]Reed Stevens, 12 , Marshall : “Loved his Lord, his country and his family,â€

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/511*500/4bus022108.jpg[/img]

Emilee Olson , 9 , Cottonwood : Competed in horse shows and played the piano.

Franco gets 12 1/2 years

By PAM LOUWAGIE, Star Tribune

October 8, 2008

MARSHALL, MINN. -- For Olga Franco, the pain of the 12 1/2-year prison sentence handed down Wednesday will eventually end. But for the families of four children killed and 17 others injured when Franco's van sailed through a Cottonwood, Minn., intersection and hit a loaded school bus, the anguish will never completely go away.

Franco, 24, heard that sentiment several times during her sentencing hearing before a judge in Lyon County. The sentence was bittersweet to relatives and friends who crowded into the courtroom. Many said they were happy that portion of the trial was over, but added that it would not ease the sense of loss.

Rita Javens, who lost sons Hunter and Jesse in the Feb. 19 crash, said after the hearing that she was glad to see justice, but can't forgive Franco, who she said is still not taking responsibility.

"There's not enough words that can be said about what she's taken away from us," Javens said. "And our hurt will never end. And I think she has plenty of time to think about it now."

Franco sat stonefaced throughout most of the hearing. In the country illegally from Guatemala and driving without a license the day of the crash, she will serve her sentence before undergoing deportation proceedings. She will be eligible for release in about eight years.

During the hearing, Judge David Peterson explained the legal sentencing parameters, directing his comments at family and community members sitting in the gallery. State guidelines called for a presumptive sentence of between 6 1/2 years and nearly 18 years, according to the sentencing guidelines commission.

"I don't imagine I have pleased anybody with this sentence," Peterson said. "I have to try to look at the entire situation through a lens that is at some distance."

Before Peterson imposed the sentence, four sets of parents read victim impact statements. Corrections officials also read four statements from other relatives. Some parents looked directly at Franco as they spoke.

"You should not even be in this country. And you should have never been driving," said a sobbing Kandy Stevens, whose son Reed died in the crash. Her son Sawyer, still using crutches from his crash injuries, sat nearby.

Franco's actions took away her family's innocence, Stevens said, and robbed them of a chance to watch Reed grow. Her family suffers deep emotional wounds, she said. Her daughters have stopped playing "school" and "wedding" with their Barbie dolls, she said, and have started playing "funeral" instead.

Traci Olson, mother of Emilee Olson, who was killed in the crash, described her energetic, smiling daughter. She said she now says "good night" and "good morning" to her empty bed. "Our family was perfect," she said. "Our family now has a huge hole in it."

Boyfriend hasn't been found

Franco, who drew nationwide attention from people focused on the illegal immigration debate, was found behind the steering wheel, her right foot wedged near the accelerator under a crumpled dash board. She has maintained that her boyfriend was the one driving the van and that he fled because he didn't want to be deported to Mexico. Her attorneys argued at trial that he was thrown from the van on impact and Franco was thrown part-way into the driver's seat. The boyfriend is believed to be in Mexico. In August, a Kandiyohi County jury found Franco guilty of all 24 charges against her.

"Youth ... had no choices"

Lyon County Attorney Richard Maes, who prosecuted the case, said that the accident occurred because of choices Franco made to drive without a license. His voice cracked and he paused several times to compose himself. "The youth that were taken from us had no choices," he said.

Franco's attorney, Manuel Guerrero, spoke about how communities seek revenge and blame, and how his mother taught him years ago, when his brother was killed, that revenge and blame "really [have] no place in the system of justice."

In a dictated statement translated and read aloud in court, Franco asked for forgiveness for using a false identity and for the crash "even though I was not the person who was driving." She said it was never her intention to hurt anyone.

After issuing the sentence, Peterson stated the name of every victim, saying the case was really about them and the community, which he praised for its perseverance and support. Families face a daily struggle, he said, to go forward with "a lifetime of could-have-beens and might-have-beens that never will be."

He ended the two-hour hearing referencing the serenity prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Peterson said that it is "much, much easier said, of course, than done."

Pam Louwagie • 612-673-7102

http://www.startribune.com/local/306208 ... anchO7DiUX

https://media.breitbart.com/media/20...-2-640x480.jpg

Nov. 29, 2019
John Binder
3,104 comments

An illegal alien woman returned to the United States soon after being deported for killing four American children in a 2008 school bus crash in Cottonwood, Minnesota.

Olga Marina Franco del Cid, a 35-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala, was found guilty for 24 charges including four counts of criminal vehicular homicide after she ran a stop sign on February 18, 2008 and killed 13-year-old Jesse Javens, 12-year-old Reed Stevens, nine-year-old Emilee Olson, and nine-year-old Hunter Javens.

The four children Franco del Cid killed were among 28 students on a school bus at the time, 14 others of which were injured in the crash.

https://media.breitbart.com/media/2019/11/US-kids.jpg
Hunter Javens (top left), Emilee Olson (top right), Reed Stevens (bottom left), and Jesse Javens (bottom right) were killed in a school bus crash in 2008 caused by an illegal alien woman from Guatemala. (Photo via CBS News)

In October 2008, Franco del Cid was sentenced to just 12 and a half years for the children’s deaths. By April 2016, she had served only eight years in Minnesota and was set free. Immediately on release she was turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and deported from the U.S. in May 2016.

Sometime between late 2016 and 2019, ICE officials said Franco del Cid returned to the U.S. and was living less than three hours away from where she had left those four children dead in 2008.

“This individual has committed a very serious crime in this state,” ICE official Shawn Neudauer told FOX 9. “Beyond serving her sentence, there is a penalty for coming back after you’ve been told you have to leave.”

This week, Franco del Cid was arrested by ICE in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. The illegal alien may face between 10 to 20 years in prison for illegally re-entering the U.S.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...american-kids/

These illegal ALIEN women and their offspring are NOT innocent little cubs or darlings!!!

Deport these repeat offenders to Prison Island for ALL foreigners and let their country pay the bill for their incarceration!

Not only do the slither across our border like venomous SNAKES, they come here and destroy our country, murder us, and now WE foot the bill for their cot, meals, medical care in prison!

Most of them should be given the death penalty at sunrise!

This is disgusting!

Close that border down and send these damn illegal aliens home with their children and their UACs!

Olga Marina Franco Del-Cid admitted that she knowingly and unlawfully entered the country, and used a fake social security number.

https://media.kare11.com/assets/KARE...fe_750x422.jpg
Credit: KARE
Olga Franco Del-Cid - 2008 mug shot

Author: Dana Thiede
Published: 2:38 PM CST February 3, 2020
Updated: 2:44 PM CST February 3, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — A Guatemalan woman deported after her conviction in a 2008 school bus crash that killed four children in southwestern Minnesota has pleaded guilty to charges she snuck back into the country illegally.

Olga Marina Franco Del-Cid, who has also used the aliases Irma G. Estrada and Alianiss Nunez Morales, admitted in U.S. District Court Monday that she knowingly and unlawfully entered the U.S. without official consent. She also pleaded guilty to using a fake social security number to gain employment at a Twin Cities restaurant.

The defendant had originally entered a plea of not guilty, but changed it during a plea hearing late Monday morning.

https://media.kare11.com/assets/KARE...f_1140x641.jpg
Credit: KARE
Olga Franco Del-Cid served 8 years in prison after she ran a stop sign near Cottonwood, MN and hit a school bus, killing four children.

Franco Del-Cid was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide after running a stop sign and crashing a minivan into a school bus near Cottonwood, Minnesota back in 2008. Four children were killed in the crash. She was deported in 2016 after serving eight years in a Minnesota state prison, but made her way back to Minnesota where she lived and worked until November of 2019, when a tip led to her arrest.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 11.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/...a-b2c4906cd248