‘2 drunk’ driver gets 24 years
‘You will never drive again,’ judge says in fatal car crash
The driver who infamously tweeted she was “2 drunk 2 care” the night a wrong-way crash killed two other young women on the Sawgrass Expressway in 2013 was sentenced Monday to 24 years in prison.
Kayla Maria Mendoza, 22, was facing up to 30 years after pleading guilty Feb. 18 to two counts of DUI manslaughter. Her sentence also carries a six-year probation term upon her release from prison.
Her attorney, Will Anderson, said she could be released early for good behavior. With credit for time served, Mendoza will be about 42 to 46 years old when released from a women’s prison near Ocala.
“That feels like a lifetime” to her, Anderson said.
Broward Circuit Judge David Haimes said sentencing Mendoza to the
maximum 30 years would not be appropriate given her age, her remorse, and lack of criminal history. “Hopefully after you finish [this] sentence you can put this behind you,” he told her.
Among her terms: The inability to ever get a driver’s license. “So it’s crystal clear, you will never drive again,” Haimes said. “Do you understand that?”
Prosecutors said Mendoza was at the Tijuana Taxi restaurant in Coral Springs on the night of Nov. 16, 2013, with her supervisors and colleagues from her sales job at T-Mobile. Court documents show she drank two large margaritas, each in a “fish bowl size” glass, even though she was under the legal drinking age.
Her blood alcohol level was .15, nearly twice the legal limit of .08, when she tried to drive home by traveling north in the southbound lanes along the Sawgrass Expressway for 7 miles at more than 80 mph — even though she has never had a driver’s license. There were also traces of marijuana in her system, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Officials said civil lawsuits from the families are pending against both T-Mobile and Tijuana Taxi.
Best friends Marisa Catronio and Kaitlyn Nicole Ferrante, both 21, were killed when Mendoza’s Hyundai Sonata collided head-on with Ferrante’s Toyota Camry near North University Drive. Catronio died at the scene after the car’s engine crushed her into her seat. Ferrante died later at Broward Health North Medical Center when her family took her off life support and donated her organs.
Mendoza suffered head injuries and broke both legs.
Mendoza, a first semester college student and aspiring teacher, sobbed in court Monday as she begged both families to forgive her. “This was a terrible mistake and a tragedy for everyone involved,” she said. “I can’t explain how I feel. I think about them every day. I saw their pictures; they’re so beautiful.”
Neither family said they were ready to forgive.
Donna Ramirez, Catronio’s cousin, accompanied the girl’s father to pick out a white coffin. “I should be paying for a wedding,” she recalled him sobbing.
“How do you forgive someone who ruined your life and your family’s life forever,” Catronio’s brother, Dustin, asked.
Catronio and Ferrante were both the eldest of three siblings, and both attended Palm Beach State College. Catronio worked in a pediatrician’s office. Ferrante wanted to become a neonatal nurse.
“You took away all those dreams,” Ferrante’s mother, Christine, said. “You took the life of my precious daughter and you destroyed my family … My heart and soul are broken … I pass Kaitlyn’s room and it’s quiet and empty.”
A relative read a letter from Catronio’s mother, Natalie. She talked about visiting her daughter’s gravesite, and her daughter begging her not to leave her alone. “I turn and blow her a kiss,” the letter read, “and apologize for not protecting her that night.”
Ferrante’s sister, Ashley, said both families are still trying to cope with their loss. “No sentence is going to be enough,” she said.
Ashley Ferrante is about two weeks away from delivering a baby girl. She said the baby’s name will be Grace Kaitlyn, after Kaitlyn.