ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — "I just want justice."
It was an emotional day for a family whose two sons were hit and killed by an intoxicated driver in Escondido two years ago. The boys' grandmother and her husband were also killed.
The woman who was behind the wheel was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In the courtroom Thursday evening, both families were in attendance. It was an emotional and packed courtroom, as the victim's and the suspect, Ashley Rene Williams' family awaited her sentencing.
For the victims' family, they have been waiting two years to seek justice for two little boys, their grandmother, and her husband.
"I am here crying because they are no longer here," shares Norma Espinoza.
Espinoza was the mother of two boys, Yovanny and Emmanuel, the daughter of Carmela Camacho, and step-daughter to Abel Valdez. While on the stand giving her victim testimony, she could not contain her tears as she remembered the day she lost those closest to her.
"I think one day I might forgive her, but that day is not today," she says with tears in her eyes. "It still hurts."
On May 5th of 2020, Ashley Williams was found to be driving while under the influence of methamphetamine, marijuana, and DFE, which she inhaled from a computer diffuser spray. Williams is said to have drifted 21 feet off the road, hitting the family who was on their nightly walk.
Eddie Espinoza shared, "We all make mistakes you know. There's choices and consequences, and even though my family is not here no more, I just want justice for them."
Other family members took the podium in the Vista courtroom as they shared their testimony. One teacher of Emmanuel's, Brandi Kreeps, was Williams' former eighth-grade math and science teacher.
"As hard as this is for me, this is nothing like what the family is going through," she says while crying. "I have two young boys, and if I lost them I don't know what I would do."
Kreeps says that she hopes Ashley can find redemption. But she also asks for the victims' families to get the peace they deserve.
"As sad as I feel for the decisions that Ashley has made, justice has to be served," Kreeps pleaded.
Judge Simmons sentenced Williams to 25 years of life in prison, following 3 counts of second-degree murder and one count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Judge Simmons said Williams' actions were extremely selfish and ruined multiple families in one night.
Deputy District Attorney Laurie Hauf shared, "To single-handedly eliminate someone's entire family, in one evening, is something that no victim should have to bear."
When Judge Simmons dismissed the court he said that he hoped healing could take place after Thursday, but he said he knew that it will not bring back the lives that these families lost.
