VISTA, Calif. (KGTV)— It was an emotional morning inside a Vista Courtroom after the mother of two kids who were killed after they grabbed luggage on the freeway was sentenced to three years and four months.
“I’m just asking you. I’m begging you. Judge, give me a chance," Sandra Ortiz said.
Ortiz asked a judge not to send her to prison after she pled guilty to several charges, including felony endangerment and DUI.
ABC 10News has a video of CHP officers talking to Ortiz in June of 2023 when prosecutors say Ortiz drove drunk on the 78 with her kids in the car.
She stopped on the side of the road so her 16-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son could pick up the luggage that had fallen.
The two were hit and killed by a car.
Tuesday, her mother-in-law, the children’s grandmother, attended court to support Ortiz. With the help of a translator, she asked the Judge to give her a second chance for the sake of her other children.
"We need her..I don’t want the other children’s lives to be ruined. They need their mother very much," she said.
However, the prosecutor argued that despite the circumstances surrounding this incident, crimes were committed, and Ortiz needed to be held accountable.
“When you are dealing with a case like this, there are no good outcomes," District Attorney Marnie Lyon said. "There’s nothing that’s going to bring those children back, and it’s difficult when the person responsible for the outcome – that the person is a parent.”
Ortiz was emotional as she was placed in handcuffs, preparing to serve out her sentence of three years and four months.
