Thank you Judge Melisa Skinner on behalf of a grateful community.
My condolences and prayers go out to the family of Maria Costilla. May she Rest in Peace.
Drunken driver gets 20 years
Man was accused in crash that killed woman, injured 3.By Craig Kapitan - Express-News
A drunken driver who made a U-turn on Interstate 35 last year — killing an Illinois woman in a head-on collision and injuring three of her family members, then urinating on the road as he insisted that it was their fault — was handed the maximum possible sentences Wednesday.
Santiago Torres-Torres, 35, was ordered by state District Judge Melisa Skinner to serve 20 years for intoxication manslaughter and three concurrent 10-year sentences for intoxication assault. He was also ordered to pay $40,000 in fines and $90,000 in restitution for the family's medical bills.
Jose and Maria Costilla were driving back to Illinois from Mexico, where they had visited family and bought a quinceañera dress, when the wreck trapped Maria Costilla, 45, in the Ford F-150 just before 2 a.m. April 4, 2010. She died an hour later. Her husband, their older daughter and their 7-month-old granddaughter were injured.
