This past Friday, a Texas courtroom played host to a powerful and emotional scene as a woman who lost both her husband and unborn child confronted the driver convicted of causing the drunk driving accident that took their lives.
“Don’t cry. Don’t cry,” Kristian Guerrero told Shana Elliot inside a San Marcos, Tex., courthouse as she read out her victim impact statement. “You don’t deserve my pity.”
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Elliot, 21, was arrested in October 2016 on two counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and one count of intoxication assault with a vehicle.
Authorities say Elliott was driving home after floating the river in San Marcos on Aug. 2 when her car veered across the center line and collided with the vehicle of 24-year-old Kristian Guerrero and her husband, Fabian Guerrero-Moreno.
Fabian Guerrero-Moreno was killed in the crash and Kristian, who was pregnant, was injured. The couple’s unborn child later died from the injuries sustained in the collision.
“I’m sure you and I have both wished it was you that day, not him,” Guerrero told Elliot Friday while the latter hung her head. “I am sorry I know you exist, because I wish you never did.”
According to police, an open bottle of alcohol was found inside Elliot’s car after the crash.
On Friday, a Hays County jury sentenced Elliot to seven years for each count of intoxication manslaughter, and 10 years probation on the count of intoxication assault. A judge will decide whether Elliot will serve the two seven-year terms concurrently or consecutively.
A tearful Elliott apologized from the witness stand after pleading guilty, saying she knows she made “the worst decision ever.”
Fighting back tears of her own, Guerrero directly addressed that apology.
“You have shown you’re incapable of remorse. I don’t buy your crocodile tears or the sweet little innocent girl they try to portray you to be. You’re a monster and you’re not sorry for what you’ve done,” Guerrero said.
“You’re sorry because you got caught.”
Elliot’s lawyers pleaded with the jury to consider her difficult childhood, during which she said she suffered physical and mental abuse.
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In addition, Elliot said she was dealing with substance abuse issues at the time of the crash. According to KXAN News, Elliot was on probation for a previous drug charge at the time of the accident.
In her statement, Guerrero made it clear that she did not accept that explanation.
“I don’t care about your troubled childhood. I had one, too. It’s no coincidence you haven’t seen my mother and my biological father in this courtroom since this trial has started,” Guerrero said.
“Did you see us out there doing anything illegal? Did you see us out there selling drugs? Did you see us out there murdering people? No.”
–With files from the Associated Press
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