HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan girl was sentenced to as much as 5 years in jail Monday for a crash through which her three younger sons drowned after her SUV plunged into an ice-covered pond.
Leticia Gonzales had pleaded no contest in August to working whereas intoxicated inflicting critical damage and three misdemeanor fees of a transferring violation inflicting dying.
An Ottawa County decide sentenced the Holland-area girl to a minimal of two years and a most of 5 years after Gonzales informed the court docket she’s been residing with survivor’s guilt since her sons’ deaths, WOOD-TV reported.
“I misplaced all the things I ever wanted and I hate myself a lot. I’ve been sentenced to life with out them for the remainder of my life, so I’m asking for forgiveness,” she stated.
Ottawa County police stated Gonzales was driving her sport utility automobile in February 2022 when she veered off the facet of a Holland Township street, jumped a curb and rolled into an ice-covered retention pond. Her sons, Jerome III, 4, Jeremiah, 3, and Josiah, 1, drowned whereas strapped into child-restraint seats.
Gonzales escaped with minor accidents. Police allege she was impaired by two doses of methadone, a medicine used to deal with drug habit and ache aid, and stated she had taken that remedy the morning of the deadly crash.
Circuit Courtroom Choose Jon Hulsing stated that whereas Gonzales feels regret for her sons’ deaths and her actions that led to their deaths, this isn’t her first time utilizing medication.
“This isn’t a one-time scenario that you just succumbed to pressures, and wishes to make use of medication. Fairly, this appears to be a sample and, sadly, your youngsters paid the last word value for that,” Hulsing stated.
