Antioch man gets four years in plea deal over fatal DUI crash

MARTINEZ >> An Antioch man who crashed his car while driving drunk on Hi g hway 4 ne a rly two years ago, killing a 19-year- old man, was sentenced to four years as part of a plea deal with county prosecutors, according to attorneys from both sides.

Willie Hamlin, 48, will be eligible for release in two years if he avoids discipline while serving his sentence, prosecutors said. He was charged in connection with the November 2018 crash that killed Giovanni Vasquez, 19, also of Antioch, but had been out on bail since then.

A number of Vasquez family members spoke out against the plea deal in court last week, before Judge Anita Santos, prosecutors and defense attorneys said. Through his attorney, Hamlin apologized to the family in court.

The terms of the deal required Hamlin to accept a voluntary manslaughter conviction in exchange for the four-year term.

“There’s nothing we can do to appropriately punish someone who does this because we can never replace what they lost,” deputy district attorney Chris Sansoe said in a recent interview. “Quite honestly, it breaks my heart as a prosecutor for me to have to tell a family that.”

At around 9: 30 p. m. on Nov. 11, 2018, Hamlin was driving eastbound on Highway 4, near the Willow Pass Road exit, when his car spun out of control. He struck another vehicle before striking Vasquez’s car head- on, Sansoe said.

Police found Hamlin lying on the ground about 10 feet away from where his Chevrolet came to a rest, police said. Roughly 30 minutes after the crash, Hamlin’s blood alcohol content registered at .21, more than twice the legal limit, at a hospital.

Hamlin’s attorney, V. Roy Lefcourt, described his client as a hardworking father with no criminal history. The night of the crash, Hamlin blacked out behind the wheel.

“We feel very sorry for ( Vasquez’s family),” Lefcourt said, later adding, “( Hamlin) will never violate the law again. It was just one of those terrible tragedies.”