An illegal immigrant driving a truck without a valid license, who pleaded guilty to causing a fatal crash earlier this summer, is facing a significantly lighter sentence than typically seen in similar cases involving truck drivers. Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, who will be sentenced on Friday in Jefferson County, Colorado, could receive a maximum of one year in jail and some fines.
Scott Miller lost his life when Cruz-Mendoza’s truck collided with his car on Highway 285 near Bailey. His widow, Deann Miller, expressed her frustration to 9 News: “I’m mad that I’m not going to get justice for my husband, mad because the most this man can get is a year for murdering my husband because the DA refused to charge him with more charge,” she said.
She continued, “He should not have been behind the wheel of that truck, and he knew that, and he chose to do this.” Deann Miller also questioned, “How many more people have to die on Colorado roads, on any road, before they start doing their job?”
Cruz-Mendoza was charged only with misdemeanor traffic violations, including one count of careless driving resulting in death and three counts of careless driving resulting in injury. He pleaded guilty to these charges in July at his arraignment, which prevented prosecutors from filing additional charges as they gathered more evidence from crash investigators.
“It makes me feel like they didn’t do their job. They’re not doing their job,” Miller added. “Who else is going to get these rogue truck drivers and these rogue trucking companies off the road if not the people we put in charge to make us safe?”
Earlier this year, a truck driver in a nearby county received a 16-year sentence for a similar deadly crash. Several years ago, the same district attorney’s office in Jefferson County prosecuted a truck driver who killed four people on Interstate 70, and he was sentenced to 110 years before the governor reduced it.
The District Attorney’s office informed the outlet that Monique Trucking, the company involved in Miller’s death, is still under investigation and has a history of violations, including allowing drivers on the road without proper licenses.
