{"id":66220,"date":"2015-09-04T09:29:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T16:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=66220"},"modified":"2015-09-04T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T16:46:25","slug":"man-gets-10-years-for-drunken-home-crash-that-killed-teen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/09\/04\/man-gets-10-years-for-drunken-home-crash-that-killed-teen\/","title":{"rendered":"Man gets 10 years for drunken home crash that killed teen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Around<\/a>
Around 3:38 a.m. Sunday, April 20, 2014, Roberto Rodriguez careened a Nissan Pathfinder through a first floor apartment and into the bedroom where Giselle Mendoza was sleeping on the 1000 block of East Avenue R in Palmdale. Mendoza, a 16-year-old Palmdale High School student, was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – A man who drunkenly crashed an SUV into a Palmdale home, killing a 16-year-old girl sleeping inside, pleaded no contest Thursday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.<\/p>\n

Roberto Rodriguez<\/strong>, 21, of Palmdale, was immediately sentenced to 10 years in state prison and was ordered to pay $10,709 in restitution to the victim’s family to cover funeral expenses, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Rodriguez also waived his \u201cback\u201d time, meaning he gave up credit for the 18 months he\u2019s already served in custody, Santiago said.<\/p>\n

The sentence stems from a deadly crash that occurred during the early morning hours of April 20, 2014, which was Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez plowed a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder into a bedroom in an apartment complex near Avenue R and 10th Street East in Palmdale, killing Giselle Mendoza <\/strong>as she slept.<\/p>\n

In a recorded interview with detectives following the crash, a then 20-year-old Rodriguez said he had consumed six to seven cans of Bud Light while playing beer pong at a friend\u2019s house. Rodriguez said he remembered \u201cgoing fast\u201d on the drive home, but didn\u2019t remember the crash, according to the recorded interview, which was played at a preliminary court hearing earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI closed my eyes and, next thing you know, just crashed,\u201d Rodriguez said, according to the police interview.<\/p>\n

A Nissan technical specialist said Rodriguez\u2019s Pathfiinder was traveling 105 miles per hour in the seconds before its airbags deployed, according to testimony at the preliminary court hearing. The vehicle jumped a raised curb and went through a fence before crashing through the structural wall of the apartment complex and into Mendoza\u2019s bedroom, a sheriff\u2019s deputy testified at the hearing.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez was originally charged with murder and DUI, along with the vehicular manslaughter charge, and could have faced 15 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Lawsuit filed in Easter Sunday crash that killed sleeping teen<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Hearing starts for driver accused of crashing through bedroom, killing sleeping teen<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Alleged DUI driver charged with murder in Easter Sunday apartment crash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Loved ones mourn girl killed when alleged drunk driver crashed through bedroom<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Suspected drunk driver crashes SUV into apartment, teen killed<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – A man who drunkenly crashed an SUV into a Palmdale home, killing a 16-year-old girl sleeping inside, pleaded no contest Thursday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Roberto Rodriguez, 21, of Palmdale, was immediately sentenced to 10 years in state prison and was ordered to pay $10,709 in restitution to the victim’s family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}