Man faces prison, then deportation for death


By John Futty The Columbus Dispatch Friday March 2, 2012 3:43 AM

A 27-year-old illegal immigrant could be sentenced to prison for more than six years after admitting yesterday that he was the driver of an SUV that struck and killed a pedestrian on the North Side last year.

Alex C. Hernandez pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to one count each of felony vehicular homicide and failure to stop after an accident. He will be sentenced by Judge Daniel T. Hogan on April 13.

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Cable said Hernandez was driving east on Rt. 161 west of I-71 when the SUV went off the right side of the road and struck Vaughn Parker, 52. Parker was walking beside the road about 4:30 a.m. on June 8.

Hernandez drove away, hid in an apartment off Morse Road and tried to conceal the crime by giving the damaged SUV, a Chevrolet Trailblazer, to someone else, Cable said. Police officers, acting on a tip, found Hernandez about 10 days later.

Hernandez, whose address is listed as “streets of Columbus,” faces deportation to Mexico after serving his prison sentence. Cable said he returned to the United States after being deported in late 2010.

Man faces prison, then deportation for death