A truck driver who pleaded guilty to causing a crash that killed a 64-year-old man in June was given the maximum possible sentence of one year in jail by a Jefferson County judge on Friday.
Ignacio Cruz Mendoza, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of careless driving resulting in death and three counts of careless driving resulting in injury on July 31.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Kristan Wheeler said her preference would be to sentence Mendoza individually for the injuries that happened to each victim of the June 11 fatal crash extending his sentence, but that was not what the law permitted her to do.
“I respect the people’s charging decisions,” Wheeler said. “I also understand why the victims feel this was reckless regard for human life, and I think it was.”
Mendoza was arrested for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault June 11 after police said he lost control of his tractor-trailer heading south on U.S. 285 near Aspen Park. The trailer rolled during the crash, spilling heavy steel pipes across the roadway and closing the highway overnight.
During the sentencing hearing, the prosecution said the steel pipes in Mendoza’s truck were not properly secured, that he was not properly licensed to drive the vehicle, the vehicle was not compliant with safety standards and that witnesses reported he did not honk or warn others that he was in trouble behind the wheel.
The crash killed 64-year-old Scott Miller and injured other drivers. One driver who suffered a concussion from the crash, Nancy Flynn, spoke before the court Friday.
Flynn along with Miller’s family and friends urged Wheeler to give Mendoza the maximum possible sentence for his actions.
“My greatest fear is that after serving his sentence, he will return to our roads as if nothing has happened and this incident never occurred,” Flynn told the court.
Several of Miller’s loved ones expressed anger and frustration with the maximum one-year sentencing, feeling it was not an adequate punishment for the crime. The prosecution said the misdemeanor charges leading to the one-year sentence were the result of having to file charges before being given all the facts of the case.
During the emotional sentencing hearing, Miller’s daughter, Michelle Miller-Tusa, said she wanted the court to know about the man her father was before he was killed in the crash.
Miller-Tusa described her father as a fun, adventurous man who gave his family a life full of laughter and whimsy. He built his daughter a treehouse where she and her friends grew up playing, dressed as Santa Claus for the holidays and turned his backyard into an RC car course for his friends and grandkids to enjoy.
“He leaves behind so many loved ones,” Miller-Tusa said. “His reach was far deep. The kind only a truly lovely person can affect on this world.”
Mendoza had an active file in the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, but he did not have a valid U.S. or commercial driver’s license at the time of the crash, officials said.
Officials said Mendoza didn’t have a valid driver’s license from Mexico either, which is where Mendoza was from. Mendoza is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally and who was removed from or left the country voluntarily 16 times since 2002, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Mendoza’s criminal history includes a previous DUI conviction in 2018, the prosecution said Friday.
Mendoza was driving for Monique Trucking, an interstate shipping company based in Indio, California. Monique Trucking is a general freight company, according to business safety records.
Wheeler said the trucking company should not have allowed Mendoza to drive without appropriate training and licensing.
Miller’s wife of 46 years, Deann Miller, spoke before the court Friday, angry about the length of Mendoza’s sentence.
“We, his family, feel that justice for our husband, father and grandfather has not been served,” Miller said. “We are mad as hell, beyond sad and tired of being told a misdemeanor is the best we can do.”
Miller said her husband was her best friend.
“On the day Cruz Mendoza killed my husband, he also killed me,” Miller said.
Mendoza addressed the court during the hearing with the help of a translator.
“I want to express my deepest condolences,” Mendoza said. “I am terribly sorry for this horrible accident, and I hope that God will be next to you going through this terrible moment.”
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