Teen Sentenced To One Year For Killing Woman in Ortega Highway Crash

After changing his plea to guilty today, a Lake Elsinore teen was convicted and sentenced , the Orange County District Attorney’s Office reported Monday.

Francisco Jesus Ochoa, 19, pleaded guilty today in Orange County Superior Court to one felony count each of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and possession of a controlled substance, one misdemeanor count of driving a motor vehicle without a valid license, and an infraction for failing to maintain liability insurance, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office.

Early in the morning of Nov. 18, Ochoa was driving a Ford F-150 westbound on Ortega Highway with Lake Elsinore resident Margarita Gutierrez, 45, in the front passenger seat.

The prosecution has maintained that Ochoa was swerving and weaving across the two-lane highway for several miles, crossing back and forth onto the wrong side of the road and onto the dirt shoulders on either side, before crashing into a tree on the Orange County side of the state route.

Ochoa was transported to the hospital for a broken leg.

Ochoa’s decision to enter a guilty plea today was a change of departure. to one felony count each of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance, one misdemeanor count of driving a motor vehicle without a valid license, and an infraction for failing to maintain liability insurance.

The district attorney’s office had reported that if Ochoa were convicted, he faced a maximum sentence of 10 years and eight months in state prison.

However, the district attorney’s office dropped the driving while intoxicated charge and, after entering his plea today, Ochoa was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of formal probation.

At the time of the crash, the defendant was in possession of six Vicodin pills, for which he did not have a prescription, the prosecution has maintained.

During Monday’s sentencing, the district attorney’s office reported that a victim impact statement was read on behalf of Gutierrez’s daughter Mayra Estrella, a college student.

According to the district attorney’s office, the statement said in part, “It's difficult to put into words the pain, sadness and anguish I've been feeling ever since the accident. When she was killed, many dreams were killed along with her. We wanted to get matching pedicures when I came back from my winter break. We wanted to travel together and see the world. [My brother and I] are never going to be able to walk into our old apartment and see my mother sitting in her usual spot on the couch, watching the usual television shows and greeting us with that crooked smile she always had. We'll never forget our beautiful, wonderful mother.”