Again, a Texas judge sentenced a driver responsible for a fatal car accident to only rehab and probation.
The driver responsible, 28-year-old Leo Ricky Deleon, fled the accident after a rear-end collision. The passenger, Heather Holt, also 28-years-old, was killed at the scene. Deleon would eventually be arrested the following day for manslaughter.
However, a lenient sentence for manslaughter was given to Deleon in spite of previous convictions for injuring to a three-year-old child and for attempted robbery. Deleon did serve prison time after his probation was revoked in the attempted robbery case. Due to his previous convictions, the judge could have ordered a life-sentence, or the minimum of 25 years in prison requested by the prosecution in the case.
Instead, District Judge Teresa Hawthorne sentenced Deleon to probation and a year in a treatment facility for a history of substance abuse.
No blood alcohol tests was performed on Deleon, however he confessed to the police that he was driving under the influence at the time of the wreck.
This outcome is interesting to note due to the recent Fort Worth case of some notoriety, where a Texas judge sentenced teen Ethan Couch to probation and a year at a posh rehab center after four people were killed in another drunk driving accident.
Source: Probation After Another Grisly Texas Auto Death," Douglas, Dec. 24, 2013
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