Driver in fatal hit-and-run 'devastated' by deaths
By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 12:00 p.m., September 8, 2008
Updated 12:38 p.m., September 8, 2008

The hit-and-run driver who killed a toddler and two women in Aurora last week is a young father who is "just devastated" about the loss of life, his attorney said today.

"He's distraught about the loss to the families. He has two young children himself," defense attorney Kallman Elinoff said after the first court appearance by Francis M. Hernandez today in Arapahoe County District Court.

The 23-year-old man hung his head solemnly as District Court Judge Anne Ollada set his bail at $250,000.

Hernandez will return to court Thursday morning to face formal charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide, hit and run, and vehicular assault.

Clad in an orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs, Hernandez briefly made eye contact with several family members in court, including his girlfriend who carried his baby in her arms.

Afterward, family members hustled out of the court house, saying "No comment" to questions from the news media.

Hernandez's attorney, who was just retained Sunday, said the defendant and his close-knit family expressed grief and deep remorse for the victims.

"He is just devastated," Elinoff said, adding that Hernandez could not even discuss the Thursday night wreck.

Police said Hernandez was speeding and moving in and out of traffic south on Havana Street and ran a red light at Mississippi before broadsiding a pickup, killing two women. Both vehicles careened into the Baskin-Robbins, where 3-year-old Marten Kudlis — having an ice cream with his mother — was dragged to his death.

"He will be dealing with these deaths the rest of his life," the attorney said of Hernandez.

But a friend of the Kudlis family rejected Hernandez's claims of remorse.

"If he's so remorseful, why did he run? If he's so remorseful, why did he flee the scene?" demanded Sean Erhard.

"It's because he thought he could get away with it like the other 15 times," Erhard said, referring to Hernandez's long history of arrests and being a fugitive from past criminal charges.

Elinoff said Hernandez fled the accident scene — not to escape — but to "collect his thoughts" after the crash. Police later arrested the man at his home.

Federal immigration authorities are investigating whether Hernandez is an illegal immigrant. He has variously given his birthplace as California, Mexico and Guatemala, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Elinoff couldn't not clarify whether Hernandez is a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant. The attorney said his understanding is that Hernandez has been in this country since he was a baby, but he did not known if the defendant was born here.

No victims' family members were present at the hearing. Vito Kudlis, the dead boy's father, was meeting with police investigators this morning.
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