Glendale drunken driver sentenced to 16 years after crash that killed 2
A Glendale woman got 16 years in prison after being convicted of killing a woman and a teenager in an October 2020 car crash, according to court records.
Francine San Miguel, 31, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated assault, taking blame for the deaths of 20-year-old Jada-lynn Faith Pasion and 14-year-old Jonper Lerias.
San Miguel was facing a maximum of 21 years in prison per count of manslaughter or a minimum of 7 years and a presumptive 10.5 years.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Minder sentenced San Miguel on Sept. 9 to two consecutive 8-year prison sentences for the manslaughter convictions and five years' probation for the aggravated assault.
Minder noted a stipulation in the plea agreement that she receive a sentence that was less than the presumptive 10.5 years.
Parents of both Pasion and Lerias felt that the prison time sentenced was too low.
“How we wish we can do more for Jonper legally. It seems like the law is not really favoring him and Jada. They both deserve better than what had been offered to the person who took their lives, and ours as well,” John and Perie Lerias, parents of Jonper, wrote in a letter to the court.
Jerome Pasion, the father of Jada-lynn, wrote, “I am sorry, your honor, but if the situation was reverse and you lost your son or daughter to a drunk driver, you had the power and you would fight to get the maximum sentence he or she would deserve. Whv does my Jada deserve any less justice?”
What happened
On Oct. 17, 2020, at around 11:30 p.m., San Miguel had left a bar at the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale and was going 95 mph when she rear-ended another car heading west on Glendale Avenue.
After the crash, police found San Miguel with a blood alcohol level of 0.208%, more than twice the legal limit and well past the amount when blackouts tend to happen, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Pasion and Lerias, passengers in the rear-ended car, both died in the crash. The driver of the car survived with minor injuries, according to the court records.
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DUI cases bottlenecked
San Miguel had a history with drinking and had a previous DUI conviction on her record. She had been ordered to get a mental heath assessment and alcohol abuse treatment.
In August, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell admitted at a press conference to a number of DUI cases that had been backlogged due a staffing shortage caused by the pandemic. She claimed that DUI cases take longer to investigate and that not enough prosecutors has received training to do so during the pandemic conditions.
"We have one chance to hold somebody accountable. Double jeopardy doesn’t allow us to do it again," Mitchell said. "I’m not going to sacrifice accuracy and a well-prepared case for the sake of speed."
Why we're reporting on this
This reporting follows a crime The Republic began to cover in 2020 and is part of our commitment to tell the story from start to finish.
Reach crime reporter Miguel Torres at Miguel.Torres@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @TheMiguelTorres.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Francine San Miguel sentenced to 16 years in crash that left 2 dead
