A 44-year-old Garden Grove woman with three previous DUI convictions was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life for crashing into and killing a mother-to-be while driving under the influence of a “drug cocktail.”
Courtney Fritz Pandolfi earlier this year pleaded guilty to second degree murder on the eve of trial for the Aug. 11, 2020 crash that killed 23-year-old Yesenia Lisette Aguilar.
Pandolfi was driving around 7:30 p.m. while under the influence of a “drug cocktail” that included cocaine and methamphetamine, prosecutors said, when she lost control of her Jeep, jumped a curb, drove onto the sidewalk at Katella Avenue near Bayless Street and crashed through a metal newspaper stand.
The vehicle struck Aguilar, who at the time was eight months pregnant and was holding hands with her husband while the couple was out for a walk. Doctors were able to take emergency measures to save the life of her baby, but not the mother.
Pandolfi was previously convicted of DUI in 2008, 2015 and 2016. As a result, she received a warning — known as a Watson advisement — that if she continued to drive under the influence and killed someone she could be charged with murder.
Along with pleading guilty to the crash that killed Aguilar, Pandolfi also admitted to driving while on a combination of drugs, including methamphetamine and morphine, in November 2019. She also acknowledged possessing and using illegal drugs in jail while awaiting trial.
Defense attorney Frederick Fascenelli previously indicated that Pandolfi chose to accept a plea deal to take responsibility and to spare Aguilar’s family members the pain of a trial.
Speaking after the sentencing, Aguilar’s husband, James Alvarez, held the couple’s daughter, now 3-year-old Adalyn Rose, as he described the fear he felt as the Jeep drove toward him and his wife.
“I could have also died that day,” Alvarez said. “As I was holding (my wife’s) hand and seeing the vehicle coming toward us, I knew my life was going to end. I can only imagine what my wife was thinking …
“I know she was thinking of our daughter,” the father continued. “She survived. I survived. So I was given a second chance in life and I’m going to do something good out of it. I want to fight for those poor victims who lost someone in a tragic accident because of a drunk driver.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Orue described the girl as a “miracle that emerged from this case.”
Alvarez has become a parenting inspiration, drawing tens of thousands of online followers as he raises his daughter following his wife’s death.
“I’m blessed with a beautiful daughter,” he said. “I’ll always remember seeing her in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) as she was laying there fighting for her life. It made me realize, if she’s fighting for her life, why can’t I fight as well? And that is exactly what I’m doing today.”
The father acknowledged that Pandolfi was emotional and spoke about her remorse during the sentencing. But he added, “For me, actions speak louder than words.”
District Attorney Todd Spitzer — who was at the Santa Ana courthouse Friday for both the Pandolfi sentencing as well as the separate sentencing of Marcus Eriz for the road rage killing of 6-year-old Aiden Leos — said he hopes such cases, and the resulting lengthy prison sentences, serve as a warning to others.
“As prosecutors, we tell the story after the bad event, after the horrible event happens,” Spitzer said. “By prosecuting people and telling people what the sentence is, we hope the work goes away … We want to deter people from these tragedies so little girls can grow up with their mother and little boys like Aiden Leos can grow up as a son.”
