LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A drunk driver who killed an airman on a Las Vegas-area freeway will serve practically the utmost sentence allowed by Nevada regulation, a decide dominated Tuesday.
On April 13, 2024, Hetsel Campos killed Airman Natalie Villegas, 23, as Villegas was driving to work at Creech Air Drive Base on U.S. 95.
Villegas joined the USA Air Drive when she was 18, her household stated throughout Campos’ sentencing Tuesday.
Earlier this yr, Campos took a plea deal, avoiding a trial and sending him to jail for not less than two years. Nevada state regulation requires a decide to condemn drunk drivers who kill to 2-20 years. State regulation limits the utmost period of time a defendant can serve in jail earlier than changing into parole eligible to eight years, making 8-20 years the utmost sentence.
Villegas joined the USA Air Drive when she was 18, her household stated throughout Campos’ sentencing Tuesday. (Villegas household)
Campos’ blood-alcohol stage was about twice the authorized restrict when police examined it within the hours after the crash, paperwork stated.
In courtroom Tuesday, Clark County District Courtroom Decide Tara Clark Newberry sentenced Campos to just about the utmost penalty: 6-20 years.
“I should be the one that’s gone — and not her,” Campos stated earlier than Clark Newberry sentenced him. “I should be the one that’s not here.”
Campos’ legal professional, Josh Tomsheck, argued his consumer had a clear file. Villegas’ household pressed the decide for the utmost attainable sentence.
On April 13, 2024, Hetsel Campos killed Airman Natalie Villegas, 23, as Villegas was driving on U.S. 95 to work at Creech Air Drive Base. (KLAS)
“My daughter was taken from us all by an irresponsible decision,” Carol Vanessa Serrano, Natalie’s mom, stated. “My daughter had no chance. She was simply on her way to do what she loved, and that was to serve this country.”
The crash occurred round dawn close to mile marker 99. Villegas was driving northbound towards Creech when Campos rear-ended her at 117 miles per hour, police stated after his arrest. Within the hours earlier than the crash, surveillance confirmed Campos consuming at Downtown Las Vegas casinos.
For causes unknown, Campos was driving north, miles away from the Las Vegas valley and his house, police stated.
“While on her way to serve our country, you irresponsibly and selfishly came along and took all that away from my daughter,” stated Natalie’s father, Juan Villegas.
On April 13, 2024, Hetsel Campos killed Airman Natalie Villegas, 23, as Villegas was driving on U.S. 95 to work at Creech Air Drive Base. (Villegas household)
“My charge and my oath is to uphold justice and to hold people accountable for the choices that they make. And unfortunately, Mr. Campos, you made the worst possible choice you could have probably made in your life that night.”
Clark Newberry’s sentence means Campos will probably be parole eligible in 2031.
A proposal earlier this yr from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to alter the regulation to permit prosecutors to cost a DUI driver who kills with second-degree homicide failed. The amended model would have carried an identical most sentence because the state’s second-degree homicide statute. A second proposal specializing in Nevada’s vehicular murder regulation additionally failed.
Lawmakers is not going to reconvene, apart from particular circumstances on the request of the governor, till February 2027.
