The Fresno Bee reports that a Fresno County Judge has ruled that a Los Angeles man who caused the death of his fiancé in a single vehicle DUI crash will not have to go to state prison.
Court records indicate that the single-vehicle rollover crash happened on August 15, 2021, when 30-year-old Francisco Munoz-Aguayo and his girlfriend of eight years were heading eastbound from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park on Highway 198.
Munoz-Aguayo lost control of his 2010 Toyota Corolla when he “caught a dip” just east of Coalinga and slammed into an embankment. The force of the impact caused the car to roll over. Munoz-Aguayo was able to get out of the vehicle while his companion was pinned inside the wreckage.
Emergency crews, paramedics, and California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene and extricated the young woman from the car. Despite all attempts to save the young woman’s life, unfortunately, she succumbed to her injuries while being transported to an area hospital.
Responding CHP officers interviewed Munoz-Aguayo, who admitted that he had consumed two or three beers before getting behind the wheel Munoz-Aguayo was arrested on suspicion of DUI. On June 1, 2022, Munoz-Aguayo pleaded no contest to the charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated; additional charges of DUI and causing serious injury or death were dropped.
Munoz-Aguayo’s possible sentence was up to four years in state prison. However, after hearing pleas from the mothers of the victim and the defendant, Judge LeAnn Le Mon sentenced Munoz-Aguayo to 300 days in jail and three years’ probation.