Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Man guilty of negligent homicide
FAYETTEVILLE — A man who killed two passengers when he crashed his pickup after leaving a Springdale nightclub pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in Washington County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Julio Galan- Picazo, 20, was sentenced to 20 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with 10 years suspended.
Alejandro Hernandez, 23, and Guillermo Sanchez, 22, both of Clarksville, were killed early March 13 when the 1997 Chevrolet pickup they were riding in went off the road and hit a tree.
The driver, then-19-yearold Galan- Picazo, also of Clarksville, was injured. Galan- Picazo was drinking at the Springdale Civic Center before the accident, according to police. One witness at the center said Galan-Picazo was a “lightweight” drinker, adding he swayed from side to side, struggled to balance himself and nodded in and out of consciousness. Galan-Picazo was visibly intoxicated when he and his two passengers left the business, according to an Arkansas Alcohol Beverage Control report.
A sample of Galan-Picazo’s blood was drawn at a hospital following the accident. His blood alcohol content was 0.185, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.
The Springdale Civic Center was ordered in August to stop selling alcohol by ABC after the Galan-Picazo wreck and another fatal accident involving a patron of the club the same month.
James Crouch, the attorney for Civic Center owner Edward Vega, said the crash occurred an hour and a half after the three men left the Civic Center. He said after they left, they went to another nightclub for an hour. Crouch said there was “substantial evidence” Galan-Picazo and his friends were drinking Scotch whisky in the pickup before the accident.
The Springdale Civic Center was allowed to resume selling alcohol in January.
The Civic Center’s alcohol license originally was revoked by the ABC in June. Vega appealed the revocation, and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board decided by a 3-2 vote in August to instead suspend the club’s alcohol license until Jan. 1.
The 2,500-person capacity private venue at 2323 S. Old Missouri Road was placed on probation for one year and ordered to stop serving alcohol by 1 a.m. for a year. The Civic Center stopped serving alcohol at 2 a.m. before the suspension.