'Her death ripped the soul out of our family:' Judge sentences men who prosecutors said engaged in a street race, killed Bakersfield grandmother
Jun. 13—The party didn't start until Bakersfield grandmother Maria Blaney Navarro walked into a room. She had the kind of genuine heart that would lead her to pull over and give strangers a ride.
"It was almost like she was like a magnet to people," Navarro's daughter-in-law Loneliness Vera said.
These memories were poured out to The Californian after Navarro's many family members watched two men being sentenced Tuesday in the November 2019 collision death of the 58-year-old, who was driving on Old River Road with her two grandchildren. Ronald Pierce Jr., going more than 100 mph with a 0.24% blood alcohol level, broadsided Navarro's minivan so hard near Ming Avenue that she was flung across a concrete center median and smashed into a crane truck.
Judge Kenneth C. Twisselman II sentenced Pierce to 15 years to life in prison, plus four years and four months. He noted Pierce, 53, was speed racing with Israel Maldonado with a reckless disregard for human life because the incident happened in the afternoon on one of Bakersfield's busiest thoroughfares. Pierce was convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and two charges related to driving drunk.
Maldonado, 38, was sentenced to two years of probation, with one year to be spent in a Kern County jail after he was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and two counts of reckless driving. Twisselman said he didn't see Maldonado's conduct reaching to the egregious levels of Pierce because he wasn't neck and neck with Pierce's red car.
"We have not celebrated holidays since Maria's passing," according to a victim impact statement by Navarro's cousin, Liz Toruno, read aloud to the court by a victims' advocate. "Her death ripped the soul out of our family."
Pierce addressed the family in court and apologized multiple times for his behavior and knows how important Navarro was to her family. He said he took responsibility for his actions.
"I am so ashamed of myself. I don't think I'll ever, ever get past it," he said.
David Torres, the attorney defending Pierce, said the instance is a tragedy on both sides. His client isn't the cold, callous individual painted at trial but is instead a person who truly regrets his actions.
Pierce served in the U.S. Navy and employed several people in his telecommunications business, Torres said.
