N.C.: Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty Of Murder In Deadly..

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/11158470/detail.html

Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty Of Murder In Deadly 2005 Crash

POSTED: 5:47 pm EST March 2, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Mecklenburg County jury has found an illegal immigrant guilty of several charges resulting from a deadly 2005 crash.

Raymundo Pineda was found guilty of driving while impaired, hit-and-run and second-degree murder for the death of Jasmine Lawrence in April 2005.

Prosecutors said Pineda was driving drunk on Independence Boulevard when he hit Lawrence’s car and didn’t stop to help the injured woman.

Pineda will spend a minimum of 19 years in prison and will be deported when his sentence is complete.

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And a previous story:
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/11137687/detail.html

Illegal Immigrant On Trial For Deadly East Charlotte Crash

POSTED: 4:50 pm EST February 28, 2007
UPDATED: 6:11 pm EST February 28, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte family spent Wednesday in court hearing testimony against an illegal immigrant accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed their young loved one two years ago.

Six of Jasmine Lawrence’s relatives were in the courtroom, including her mother. She dreads returning to court to hear more details about how her 21-year-old daughter died in a hit-and-run accident.

Police said Raymundo Pineda’s truck hit Lawrence’s car on Independence Boulevard in April 2005, and he didn't stop to help. He was arrested a few minutes later in an east Charlotte apartment complex.

Pineda had been charged with driving while impaired a year before the fatal crash.

Several Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers took the stand on Wednesday. One told jurors how a driver who saw Pineda’s truck leave the accident scene followed it, and then led police to where the truck was parked. Another officer testified that Pineda told him he drank at least five beers at two bars that night.

The prosecution is expected to call someone from the medical examiner’s office to the stand on Thursday. The case could go to the jury as early as Thursday afternoon.

The victim's mother said she will talk about how painful the trial has been for her and her family once it’s over.
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Related thread posted back in 2005:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ndo+pineda

http://charlotte.com/109/story/38423.html

Penalty in DWI death: 19 years
Man sentenced in 2005 crash that killed woman, his second such charge in an 11-month span
GARY L. WRIGHT
gwright@charlotteobserver.com

Raymundo Espinoza Pineda, accused of killing a 21-year-old woman in a wreck along Independence Boulevard in 2005, was convicted Friday of second-degree murder, driving while impaired and hit and run.

Pineda, 24, was sentenced to at least 19 years in prison.

Jasmine Lawrence of Charlotte died in the April 23, 2005, wreck. Pineda's blood-alcohol level, according to court records, was 0.13. It's against the law in North Carolina to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more.

It was the second time in less than a year that Pineda had been charged with DWI. Pineda had been accused of driving while impaired in May 2004. That charge was pending at the time of the fatal wreck.

"This was a sad day for Jasmine's family," Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Jay Ashendorf told the Observer following Friday's conviction. "This didn't have to happen. We were in court because the defendant didn't learn his lesson in 2004 when he was first charged with DWI."

Assistant District Attorney Anna Willyard, who also prosecuted Pineda, said: "This man hit Jasmine Lawrence. He killed her. And then he ran. We are happy that the jurors shared our opinion that this was murder."

Authorities say Pineda was driving a pickup east on Independence Boulevard near Farmington Road after midnight when it struck Lawrence's car. The impact sent Lawrence's car across the median and into the path of a pickup. That pickup struck Lawrence's car.

She died at the scene. Pineda was not injured.

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Is there some way the family of Ms. Lawrence can sue the employer of this drunk driving, murdering illegal alien?

They should also demand to know why a charge 11 months prior was still "pending".

This is one drunk driver that should have already been sent back home. :twisted: