A woman who drove drunk on a Vista freeway last June, pulling over and allowing her two children to get out before they were hit and killed by another car, was sentenced to more than three years in prison on Tuesday.
Sandra Ortiz wept as she pleaded with Judge Saba Sheibani for mercy to heal herself and care for her four surviving children.
“I want to say sorry to my kids,” Ortiz said. “I made a huge mistake by drinking and driving. I should have never done that; it was a stupid mistake. I love my kids dearly.”
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On June 18, 2023, Ortiz was driving her six children on state Route 78 when luggage fell from the top of her SUV. She pulled over and two of her children, 10-year-old Alan Gerardo Aguilar and 16-year-old Amy Monserrat Beltran, got out to retrieve the bags.
They were hit by another car instantly and killed.
Ortiz had previously pleaded guilty to two felony counts of child endangerment and one count of driving under the influence.
Ortiz had a blood alcohol level of .14 two hours after the incident, authorities said. The family had been in San Diego County for just six months; prior to the incident, were living out of the SUV.
“It is very clear that society failed Sandra Ortiz in a number of ways,” prosecutor Marnie Layon said in court.
Attorneys on both sides agreed that Ortiz self-medicated with alcohol to numb the pain of her own trauma, but, prosecutors argued, her actions that day were a choice and no one’s fault but her own.
SR-78 Fatalities
“A mistake is a person wearing mismatched socks," Layon said. "This is not a mistake. It is a crime. It is a felony for which she has been found guilty, quite simply."
“Any parent who has ever set foot leaving a store through a, through a parking lot holding a small child's hand knows the feeling when that hand slips from your grip,” Layon said. “The immediate reaction, the whipping around to find the child and grab any part of them because you know how important it is to protect your child when they are anywhere where there are moving cars. And the stern conversation that follows after: ‘You always hold Mommy's hand, always.’ This is innate. This was not a store parking lot. This was the 78.”
Ortiz has completed a seven-month inpatient rehabilitation program and has been housed at a sober living facility. Asking the Sheibani for probation, she said she had changed.
“It broke my heart yesterday, my daughter's calling me, my kid’s calling me, telling me, ‘Mom, I'm scared we're going to lose you," Ortiz said. " 'We lost two of my siblings and now we're going to lose you. We don't want that, Mom.' "
The judge said she had no doubt what happened was never Ortiz’s intention.
“This pain and grief that she is going to have, losing her children, will be a lifelong punishment for her. Every day she will think about what had happened on that day,” Sheibani told the court in her ruling.
But, Sheibani said, the gravity of the case warranted prison.
“She chose to drink and get in the car, and not only put her children at risk but essentially put the public at risk by drinking and driving,” Sheibani said.
Ortiz was led away in handcuffs, pleading with family in the courtroom to care for her children.
The maximum sentence Ortiz faced was more than 10 years in prison. She was given credit for 332 days served.
