Teen who killed nurse in Autauga vehicle wreck gets 99 years in jail | Marlena Hayes

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Summary:
August 14, 2019

PRATTVILLE — A 19-year-old on Wednesday was sentenced to spend the next 99 years and three months in prison in an Autauga County reckless murder case.

Jorge Ruiz was convicted in July of reckless murder, minor in possession of alcohol and driving without a license charges. On Wednesday morning, Circuit Judge Bill Lewis sentenced him to 99 years on the reckless murder charge and three months on the minor in possession of alcohol charge, the maximum penalty in the charge. Reckless murder is a Class A felony with a punishment range of 10 to 99 years to life in prison.

Lewis ordered the reckless murder sentence to be served before time starts counting on the three months on the alcohol charge. Lewis also levied a $25 fine on the driving without a license charge.

The sentences came down after a 37-minute-long emotion-filled proceeding. The gallery in the courtroom, present for other cases, sat quietly as the drama played out. Many wiped tears from their eyes. No one in the gallery left their seats until the sentencing was completed.

Marlena Hayes, 29, was killed Oct. 28 in the two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 31, about three miles north of Prattville. She was a nurse at Prattville Baptist Hospital and had just clocked out at 6 a.m. ending her 12 hour shift. She was driving home to Clanton when the wreck occurred at about 6:10 a.m.

Testimony at trial brought out that Ruiz was speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road when the 2011 F-150 pickup he was driving struck Hayes’ 2007 Honda Civic head on. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

About a dozen relatives and supporters of Hayes stood before Lewis. The group included Chilton County Sheriff John Shearon. Laura Liveoak, Hayes’ mother, addressed the court first.
Comments were relayed to Ruiz through an interpreter. Ruiz, a Mexican national, is in the country illegally, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and courthouse records.