A man who drove drunk and struck two people standing outside their vehicle in Pacific Beach, killing one, was sentenced Friday to 21 years to life in state prison.
Nestor Alejandro Hernandez, 24, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges for the 2023 crash that killed Arizona resident Vanessa Urbina, 22.
Police said that around 1:30 a.m. Jan. 22, the victim and her boyfriend were standing on the sidewalk next to their disabled SUV on Riviera Drive when they were struck by a Toyota Tacoma driven by Hernandez at high speeds.
The woman died at the scene. Her boyfriend, Brian Armenta, 24, was pinned underneath the pickup truck.
Deputy District Attorney Spencer Sharpe said Hernandez was driving 87 mph in a 25 mph zone while on probation for a previous DUI conviction.
Hernandez’s attorney, Jamahl Kersey, asked for concurrent sentences for the charges related to running down Armenta. Sharpe, though, argued for consecutive terms because Armenta represented a separate victim who sustained serious injuries that required nine surgeries over the span of six months.
Kersey said his client had taken responsibility by pleading guilty to all charges he faced, but argued some consideration should be given to poor lighting conditions on that stretch of Riviera Drive.
The defense attorney also said the victims’ disabled vehicle did not have its lights on and was stopped partially in the roadway.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Dwayne K Moring disagreed, stating that the speeding involved made the lighting and the presence of the disabled vehicle irrelevant.
A GoFundMe page created by the late victim’s brother described her as an aspiring nurse and “a beautiful, outgoing person” who “had a great sense of humor and a very generous heart.”
At Friday’s sentencing, Armenta said he feels “like a part of me has been ripped away and I’ll never get it back. One moment, we were talking about our future. The next moment, I wake up in a hospital finding out she wasn’t alive.”
Estella Aragonez said her daughter was “full of life and had a brilliant future ahead of her.”
In an apology statement to the victim’s family, Hernandez said, “It was never my intention to hurt nobody. But my actions spoke otherwise.”
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