Antioch man gets year in jail for killing girlfriend

Family of victim speak out at an emotional hearing

After lamenting the difficulty of his decision, an Alameda County judge handed down a oneyear jail term for a man who pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for running over and killing his girlfriend during a heated argument outside their San Leandro home.

Kevin Valasco, 32, of Antioch, was sentenced to one year in jail, two years probation and given various fines and fees. Judge Thomas Nixon ordered Valasco to turn himself in to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin by 5 p.m. Monday, court records show.

Valasco pleaded no contest to manslaughter with no sentencing agreement in place. Nixon had the option to sentence him to as much as three years in prison, or to no jail time. He was arrested after the Feb. 1, 2017 crash, spent 17 days in jail, and has been out on $70,000 bail since then, records show.

The sentence was handed down Jan. 31, just one day shy of the six-year anniversary of the death of Adriana “Drina” Roybal, Valasco's girlfriend. Authorities say the two argued inside their San Leandro home on the 400 block of Ruth Court for several hours, and that Roybal jumped on Valasco's red BMW as he was attempting to leave. But what persuaded Nixon to impose a jail term, he said, was that he believed Valasco should have tried to ensure Roybal wasn't in the path of the BMW before driving off.

“This was not an accident. An accident is something happens you don't expect,” Nixon said, according to a transcript of the Jan. 31 hearing. He later added, “If (Valasco) had checked to see if she was OK, I'm confident none of this would have happened.”

Before Nixon imposed a sentence, Roybal's sister and niece both gave emotional statements to the court, in which they shared memories of Roybal and described their difficult paths to forgiving Valasco for what he did.

“Please Kevin know that we don't hate you. We forgive you,” Roybal's sister said in court. But she encouraged him to, “Value the second chance God has given you because not everybody has that blessing of escaping condemnation from justice and you're getting a second chance. Value it. Love your family. Show love.”

The family members described Roybal as a caring person who loved fashion and won awards for her work as a makeup artist. Roybal's niece said she too forgives Valasco but that it isn't fair her aunt is dead while Valasco has remained free for most of the last six years.

“We all miss her so much. She was literally like my other mom,” Roybal's niece said.

Valasco's lawyer, Annie Beles, said in court that Valasco didn't know Roybal was in the way of the car when he hit the gas, but said the tragedy has greatly impacted him. She argued that sending Valasco to a jail cell wouldn't make the situation any better.

“He has had a very difficult time emotionally processing this. He is sorry,” Beles said.