John Jefferson
Inset left to right: Alan Aguilar and Amy Beltran-Ortiz (Obituaries). Background: Sandra Ortiz cries in court as she hears her fate for her children’s deaths (YouTube/KUSI).
A Southern California mother will spend the next few years behind bars after an attempt to gather up some wayward luggage on a highway led to the tragic death of two of her children.
In February, Sandra Ortiz, 34, pleaded guilty to three counts of child endangerment — two of which came with a sentencing enhancement for the deaths, and one count of driving under the influence.
She previously faced charges of driving under the influence, gross vehicular manslaughter and child endangerment.
On Tuesday, the defendant was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison for the alcohol-induced incident that ultimately killed her 10-year-old son, Alan, and 16-year-old daughter, Amy.
On Father’s Day last June, as evening turned toward night, Ortiz was driving her family to a park in their GMC SUV. At the time, the family was homeless, with many of their belongings kept in luggage.
During the drive along California State Route 78, commonly referred to as SR-78 by locals, some of the luggage fell off the top of their vehicle. So, Ortiz pulled the vehicle over on the right shoulder near the Mar Vista Drive exit in Vista, a northern suburb of San Diego.
Police claim the children walked into oncoming traffic on a mission to retrieve the fallen luggage and were fatally hit by a Nissan sedan. One of the other children later told their father — who was not with them at the time — that their brother and sister immediately got out of the SUV to go and get the luggage despite their mother telling them not to do so, according to San Diego-based Fox affiliate KUSI.
“My daughter was a special beautiful girl, she had a lot of dreams, she wanted to have a bakery shop, she loved to bake,” the children’s father told the TV station. “My boy, he was my firstborn son.”
The children’s father remembered his son as a great dancer who dreamed of becoming an architect — he noted that each of the other four children witnessed the horrific accident unfold.
“That was the hardest moments to see as a father, just two bodies laying there,” he said. “Everyday I wake up, just looking at their faces in my head, every night I go to sleep dreaming of them, it’s the only place I can hold them, kiss them, tell them I love them.”
Ortiz was arrested on the spot.
She had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.14 at the time of her arrest, prosecutors said during her arraignment last year, according to San Diego-based KFMB.
The legal limit in the Golden State is 0.08.
Quickly released on her own recognizance, Ortiz found herself back in jail the month after the crash. Prosecutors said she began drinking again — among other pretrial release violations.
A GoFundMe for the family exceeded the goal set — with an aim of providing funeral services and helping them beat homelessness.
Emotions climbed high during Ortiz’s tear-filled sentencing hearing on Tuesday, according to a courtroom report by KUSI.
“I’m doing every power in my hands to switch my life around,” Ortiz said, while crying, and pointing to the ruinous role alcohol has played in her life. “I’ll continue to do everything you guys ask me to do.”
Her defense attorney sought to impress upon the court that the still-grieving mother had changed significantly since the time she used alcohol to self-medicate for extensive past trauma.
“After a horrific series of events, the worst possible thing did happen,” Ortiz’s public defender said, according to KUSI. “The only thing that matters now in Sandra Ortiz’s life, the only reason Sandra Ortiz has dedicated every once of her [being] to treatment and therapy, is so that she can provide her four living children with the love and care those children do deserve from their mother.”
Ortiz’s family also asked the judge not to keep Ortiz behind bars, according to a courtroom report by San Diego-based ABC affiliate KGTV.
“We need her,” the since-condemned woman’s mother-in-law said with the help of a translator. “I don’t want the other children’s lives to be ruined. They need their mother very much.”
The state, for their part, agreed the woman had likely changed for the better — particularly with regard to her alcohol consumption. Still, prosecutors demanded punishment. And the court obliged.
“I really hope that Ms. Ortiz, after you serve your prison term, that you will continue with your path to sobriety,” the judge overseeing the case intoned. “It has to continue when you get released from prison, not only make yourself a better human…but for your children.”
Ortiz was not sentenced for the DUI charge, a spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office told Law&Crime.
The plea agreement resulted in a “lid” on the sentencing of 10 years and eight months — meaning she could have been sentenced to anywhere from time served with probation to 10 years and eight months behind bars, the DA’s office said. Ultimately, the judge opted for the lower end. She will also receive 332 days of credit for pretrial detention.
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