EGN NEWS DESK
RIVERSIDE — An unlicensed driver who struck and killed a 42-year-old Jurupa Valley girl then fled the scene pleaded responsible Tuesday to gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run leading to dying and was instantly sentenced to 5 years in state jail.
Jose Manuel Acosta Aguilar, 26, of Jurupa Valley, admitted the felony offenses underneath a plea settlement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In change for his admissions, prosecutors dropped sentence-enhancing allegations in opposition to Aguilar.
His co-defendant, 27-year-old Erika Marlene Guevara of Jurupa Valley, pleaded responsible to being an adjunct after the actual fact. No expenses had been dismissed in her case.
The pair’s pleas had been introduced simply as a preliminary listening to was set to start earlier than Superior Court Judge Raul Sahagun on the Riverside Hall of Justice.
The judge licensed the plea bargains, and after handing down the stipulated time period of imprisonment for Aguilar, he sentenced Guevara to 2 years’ felony probation.
Aguilar fatally struck Jamie Rena Pruitt on the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2023, within the 5000 block of Mission Boulevard, close to Crestmore Road, in response to county sheriff’s investigators.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ronald Smith mentioned the sufferer was strolling on the four- lane hall when a white 2012 Toyota Corolla plowed into her, then raced away. It was unclear whether or not she was crossing the roadway or strolling in one of many lanes on the time.
County hearth paramedics arrived inside 10 minutes and pronounced Pruitt dead on the scene.
Smith mentioned it was confirmed the Toyota “sustained vital injury to the entrance passenger aspect hood, fender and windshield.”
It was unclear the place Aguilar was headed, or how briskly he was driving. Both he and Guevara surrendered to deputies on the sheriff’s Jurupa Valley station three days later.
Neither defendant had documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
