Woman gets 1 year for crash that killed boyfriend

A Benicia woman was sentenced to one year in jail in connection with a fatal 2021 motorcycle crash where she killed her boyfriend, but also suffered extensive injuries, court records show.

Danielle Martinez, 31, was sentenced Jan. 20 to one year in jail and two years probation after pleading no contest to manslaughter in October. The plea deal was open-ended, meaning Judge Thomas Nixon could have given Martinez no jail time, or as much as four years in state prison.

Nixon appeared conflicted, saying he had debated for some time what to give Martinez and that he didn't consider her a future public safety threat. Martinez spoke at her sentencing hearing, apologizing for the crime she said will haunt her forever. Several support letters included one from her victim's father who asked for no extra incarceration.

“It isn't about revenge. And it isn't about retribution. It's about justice. It's about what's right. And that's what I've been struggling with,” Nixon said.

Martinez will be able to reduce her sentence by six months with good behavior, and is currently scheduled for release in July, court records show.

The case stems from a May 22, 2021, crash in Union City. Martinez and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Kiko Leon, had just finished celebrating an anniversary with a restaurant date, and were heading home on a motorcycle. Surveillance footage shows Leon was driving when they left the restaurant, but that at some point they switched positions.

After the crash, police measured Martinez's blood-alcohol level at .14, nearly twice the legal limit. But she said in court she couldn't remember the crash or any details.

“I lost all memory of the accident the moment I woke up the next day, knowing that I lost the love of my life,” Martinez said in court. “There are no words and no way I can ask for forgiveness. Because I can't take it back. He's gone.”

Martinez suffered significant head trauma, and lost the use of her right hand, among other serious injuries, her attorney said in court filings.

In a defense sentencing

memo, several family members and friends of Martinez offered support letters, including a Contra Costa Sheriff's courtroom officer who described herself as Martinez's best friend. Leon's father also wrote a letter saying he believed Martinez has “lost enough” from the crash and it would be “double jeopardy” to punish her more. He said he believed Leon and Martinez would eventually have married and started a family.

Nixon said he took issue with several of the support letters that characterized the crash as an “accident.”

“You weren't sitting on

the sofa and a tree fell on the house. This is a situation where certain decisions were made,” Nixon said. “And they were very bad decisions. And they ended up seriously injuring you. But they ended up taking Mr. Leon's life.”

“You're not likely to be a danger to the community moving forward,” the judge later added. “But something must be done. Punishment is appropriate.”

Martinez was also ordered to pay $5,756.15 in victim restitution, an amount that was agreed to by both prosecutors and the defense.