Woman Gets 14 Years After Pleading Guilty To DUI In Fatal Crash

WAUKEGAN, IL — A 39-year-old woman was sentenced to 14 years in state prison Monday after pleading guilty to drunken driving during a fatal four-car traffic crash in Waukegan that left two people dead on Aug. 26, 2018, prosecutors said.

Letisia C. Delgadillo, of Waukegan, had been held at Lake County Jail on $1 million bond on six counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury or death and two counts of reckless homicide until she pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated DUI on June 13 in exchange for prosecutors dropping the other seven felony counts, according to court records.

"This was a tragic situation that could have easily been avoided had Ms. Delgadillo simply not made the choice to climb behind the wheel of an automobile while she was impaired," said Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim, announcing the sentence.

Around 8:30 p.m. on the night of the crash, Delgadillo was speeding west in a Chevy SUV on Grand Avenue at Baldwin Avenue when she ran a red light and struck a southbound Honda sedan, Waukegan police said at the time. The force of the collision sent both vehicles into two other SUVs that had been stopped at the red light.

Assistant State's Attorney Tyler Dyson said Delgadillo was going 66 mph through the red light at the time of the crash. Tests at the hospital revealed she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.17 hours after the crash, Dyson said in court.

Jose Socorro Arroyo-Zavala, 42, of Waukegan, and Laura Orozco-Corona, 41, of Guanajuato, Mexico, the occupants of the Honda, were pronounced dead shortly before 9 p.m. at Vista Medical Center from the injuries suffered in the crash, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office.

"This was truly an avoidable tragedy," Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper said. "There is never a reason to drink and drive."

Prosecutors said she faced a possible sentence of between four and 28 years in prison. At sentencing, Assistant State's Attorney Tyler Dyson asked Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti to sentence Delgadillo to 18 years in prison.

Dyson said Delgadillo drank at three separate bars on the night of the crash, drinking hard alcohol at one of them. He said she had a previous DUI arrest in Las Vegas, pleading guilty to reckless driving in that case, the Lake County News-Sun reported.

Delgadillo apologized to the families of Arroyo-Zaval and Orozco-Coronaat sentencing, saying she would "trade places" if she could, according to the News-Sun.

Delgadillo will receive credit for about 11 months time served and must serve 85 percent of her sentence. She will be eligible for parole after serving about 11 years and must them complete two years of probation.

"While we did our jobs and ensured that justice was done, no prison sentence will be able bring back the lives of Jose Socorro Arroyo-Zavala and Laura Orozco Corona," Nerheim said. "Our condolences continue to go out to the family and friends of the victims."

Earlier: Woman Charged In DUI Crash That Killed Two