http://www.wral.com/apncnews/7161933/detail.html

BOLIVIA, N.C. -- An illegal immigrant with a history of drunken driving pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in an accident that killed a Mount Holly teacher, closing a case that drew the attention of advocates for tougher immigration laws.

Ramiro Gallegos, 26, was sentenced to roughly 14 years to 18 years in prison for the death of Scott Gardner.

"It is difficult to face this gentleman ... who did not even stay to help those who he hurt," Gardner's uncle, Terry Lee, said in a statement to the court just before the sentencing. There is "no punishment great enough for this man."

Authorities said Gallegos was intoxicated while driving a truck that collided with a Subaru station wagon driven by Scott Gardner on July 16. Gardner was killed, and his wife Tina was critically injured and remained comatose for weeks in New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

The Gardners' children, 5-year-old Jackson and 2-year-old Avery, suffered minor injuries.

Gallegos, an orphan educated by his siblings, moved to the United States from Mexico when he was 17, said his lawyer, William Peregoy. He has three previous DWI convictions, but none resulted in his deportation. His stiffest sentence was handed down by a Brunswick County judge in 2004. That judge sentenced Gallegos to a maximum sentence of two years, but suspended that sentence and allowed Gallegos to serve only 30 days in jail over 15 weekends. He also ordered 30 months probation.

"He would gladly forfeit his own life if he could take back the harm he has caused," Gallegos' attorney told Brunswick Superior Court Judge William C. Gore Jr. before Gallegos was sentenced.

Gore blamed the death at least in part on a failed legal and immigration system.

"Obviously, there is a larger national issue before us today," Gore said. "A lack of enforcement of the laws we have ... led directly to the tragedy."

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., proposed legislation after the accident that she said would make local police more responsible for tracking illegal immigrants. The "Scott Gardner Act" would require all state and local law enforcement agencies to report immigration status, deportation orders and failures to appear to the FBI's National Crime Information Center database within 30 days of the incident.

The measure has been added as an amendment to a broader immigration bill that has already passed the House and is scheduled for debate in the Senate next month.

"I'm glad the judge took it so seriously," Myrick said. "There's got to be some responsibility for their actions, for the people who drive drunk. This sends a strong message."

District Attorney Rex Gore, whose office prosecuted Gallegos, sounded skeptical about the proposal Friday.

"It's easy to talk the talk, but if you're going to ask local agencies to do federal work for them, you have to put the money there," Rex Gore said.

He said his office hasn't even found money to hire a Spanish-speaking interpreter. On the night of Gallegos' arrest, prosecutors relied on a jail inmate who inaccurately translated Gallegos' Miranda rights, Rex Gore said. That may have caused a problem had the case gone to trial, he said.

Jeff Jordan, assistant special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency office in Charlotte, said Gallegos will be deported after completing his prison term.

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, a Raleigh-based group, said that decision should have been made before Friday.

"The injustice here," he said, "is that Scott Gardner didn't have to die."