News
15 years to life sentence given to DUI driver responsible for killing pregnant woman
An Orange County driver who pleaded guilty to fatally hitting a pregnant woman while driving under the influence of a cocktail of drugs in 2020 was sentenced on Friday to 15 years to life in prison.
The Orange County district attorney’s office said Courtney Fritz Pandolfi, 44, already had multiple DUI convictions when she got behind the wheel on Aug. 11, 2020, while high on a combination of drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, and fatally hit 23-year-old Yesenia Aguilar.
Aguilar was eight months pregnant and out walking with her husband in Anaheim when Pandolfi jumped the curb with her Jeep SUV, crashing into a metal newspaper stand before barreling toward the couple and hitting Aguilar.
Prosecutors said Pandolfi continued driving an additional 347 feet without braking before her Jeep became disabled.
The baby, Adalyn Rose, was delivered alive in an emergency C-section.
“A beautiful little girl came into the world fighting like hell to survive the tragedy that took her own mother’s life, and the strength that little girl has shown gave her own father the will to live,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
“Adalyn Rose’s first breath will be forever inextricably intertwined with her mother’s last breath,” Spitzer continued, “but that little girl will grow up knowing that her mother’s last act on earth was to do whatever she could to protect her unborn baby.”
Pandolfi, of Garden Grove, pleaded guilty in February to murder and a variety of other charges, including felony driving under the influence of drugs causing bodily injury and two misdemeanors for driving with a suspended license. Some of the counts stemmed from Pandolfi driving under the influence of drugs in November 2019.
Pandolfi had also been convicted of DUIs in 2008, 2015 and 2016, prosecutors said, and received formal legal warnings each time that she could be charged with murder if she went on to kill someone while driving under the influence.
“My client accomplished today what she wanted to do, which was to spare the family the additional grief and heartache of a trial,” Pandolfi’s attorney, Fred Fascenelli, said when she pleaded guilty in February. “She recognizes it was a tragic situation of her making.”
Aguilar’s widower, James Alvarez, posted a video on social media of himself leaving the courtroom with his daughter, now 3, after the sentencing. He wrote that after “the toughest 3 years that [he’d] had to endure,” it was “finally over.”
“I can finally close this chapter of my life,” Alvarez wrote on Instagram. “My late wife’s killer finally received the maximum sentence. Even though 15 years to life isn’t enough, I can finally breathe after fighting for so long to get the justice that we deserve. … and [I] will continue to fight to make sure she never gets out.”
He continued: “I was given a second chance in life because I could have died too … so I’m going to use this second opportunity to do good in this world. I’m going [to be] the voice and strength of every person that lost a loved one from another person’s selfish acts.”
News
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Protesters reach an agreement to dismantle encampment
Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have agreed to end their pro-Palestinian encampment following an agreement reached with the school, university officials announced on Sunday. The encampment, which had been in place for two weeks, will be dismantled by Tuesday, marking the end of what was believed to be the last standing encampment at a Wisconsin college.
University officials had allowed the encampment to remain on a patch of lawn between Mitchell Hall and a busy thoroughfare on the campus’s southern boundary, opting not to involve law enforcement. This approach differed from the response at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where police were called in to remove tents after negotiations fell through. Despite initial efforts to disband the encampment, Wisconsin-Madison eventually reached an agreement with protesters to voluntarily dismantle the camp prior to commencement ceremonies.
Chancellor Mark Mone of Wisconsin-Milwaukee stated last Wednesday that the university had exhibited “the widest possible amount of patience and restraint.” However, he also cautioned that patience was wearing thin and hinted at potential action by the school. Following discussions with the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition, the university agreed to advocate for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, condemn the destruction of schools and universities in Gaza by Israeli forces, and hold meetings with protest leaders regarding university investments.
Additionally, the university pledged to urge the Water Council, a Milwaukee organization of water technology companies, to sever connections with two Israeli government-owned entities, Mekorot and the Israel Innovation Authority. Chancellor Mone serves as the treasurer on the Water Council’s board of directors.
In return for these commitments, the protesters agreed to dismantle the encampment beginning on Sunday and completing the process by Tuesday. They also agreed not to disrupt the university’s commencement ceremonies scheduled for Sunday. In a statement, the protesters expressed their satisfaction with the agreement, stating, “After hard fought edits and careful consideration by the coalition, we determined we had obtained all possible benefits from the encampment.”
The resolution of the encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee represents a successful outcome of negotiations between university officials and protesters. By reaching a compromise that addresses the concerns of both parties, a peaceful resolution has been achieved, allowing for the encampment to be taken down without incident.