On January 26th a Tucson Arizona man was sentenced to ten and half years in prison. The man who killed his girlfriend in a high-speed alcohol induced car accident pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Jesse Moffett, the guilty driver, was weaving in and out of traffic while driving over 100 miles per hour. He then lost control of his car while driving on East Ina Road.
Colon, the man’s girlfriend, was killed at the scene of the accident. Moffet was later found hiding in some bushes nearby the accident. Blood tests confirmed that he was above the legal blood alcohol content limit at 0.179, more than twice the legal limit.
As a result of Moffett’s guilty plea the Pima County Superior Court Judge Hector Campov had the option to sentence him to as little as 7 years or as many as 21 years in prison.
The victims mother, Cathy McGowan, asked that the sentence be light citing mainly the fact that Moffett would be responsible for raising and caring for Colon’s 10-year old son.
McGowan stated “I think highly of Jesse. I believe he’s a wonderful person who made a tragic mistake and I think any one of us could make the same mistake on a bad day.”
The defense attorney for Moffet told Campov that both Colon and Moffet had been drinking for quick a few days after finding out that they had lost their unborn child.
Moffett said “ I trusted her with my life and she trusted me with hers and the fact that I betrayed that trust I have to live with every day.” “I destroyed what I found I really wanted in life.”
The prosecuting attorney, Dan Nicolini pushed for a 15 year sentence noting that Moffett put many other lives in peril that day, and has also had multiple previous convictions for drug related offenses.
