Immigrant pleads guilty in traffic death

Florencio Bernal-Michua rolled pickup, left it in road; Good Samaritan who stopped to investigate was struck and killed

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune

An undocumented immigrant who caused one death and a handful of injuries last month when he left his wrecked pickup in a road and went home to sleep has been sentenced to 18 months in the Iron County jail.
Florencio Bernal-Michua, 32, pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, a class B misdemeanor.
Fifth District Judge John Walton immediately sentenced the defendant to the maximum term for each count - 12 and 6 months - and ordered them to run consecutively.
But Bernal-Michua could be released early to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.
Three other misdemeanors - driving without insurance, failure to report an accident and no driver's license - were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
About 3 a.m. on Jan. 28, Bernal-Michua rolled his pickup on State Road 56, about 10 miles west of Cedar City.
Leaving the vehicle partially blocking one lane of traffic, Bernal-Michua flagged down another driver, got a ride to his Beryl home and went to sleep without reporting the accident, according to police.
About 5:30 a.m., VerLee Hunt - a 57-year-old nurse heading to work at the Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City - stopped at the crash scene to look for injured parties.
Before leaving her car, she made a U-turn and parked with the headlights on bright facing west.
As Joseph Raynor approached from the west in an SUV, he flicked his high beams to try and get Hunt to dim hers.
By the time Raynor noticed the wreck, he was unable to avoid it.
The SUV hit the pickup about 70 mph, and also hit Hunt's car.
Raynor and four family members suffered injuries and were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett called the plea deal a "good outcome" to the case. He noted that Bernal-Michua had pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, which was the most serious charge.
Garrett added that he felt strongly about the defendant needing to plead guilty to leaving the accident scene.
"Had he taken the proper steps to notify police, perhaps this wouldn't have happened," Garrett said.
shunt@sltrib.com

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5316007