Drunk driver in fatal crash acquitted of manslaughter

A drunken driver whose two friends died in a 2014 head-on crash was convicted on two counts of motor-vehicle homicide by a judge who acquitted her on the more serious manslaughter charges in a verdict that left grieving relatives reeling.

Jennifer Guzman, 28, stood yesterday as Suffolk Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger said he was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she intentionally drove her BMW under the influence and caused a crash that killed two people and injured two others, but said the evidence did not meet the standard for a manslaughter conviction.

“I think the justice system sucks. I don’t see how a judge could see a woman get behind the wheel of a car, and be responsible for two people’s deaths, and the judge sees fit for a one-year punishment,” said Ernest Sheets, referring to the one-year mandatory minimum sentence. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

Sheets has a 12-year-old daughter with Luz Puentes-Sheets, 33, who died in the crash along with Maria Hernandez, 44, when Guzman crossed the double yellow line and struck a Toyota Camry.

The driver of the Camry, Cesar Viasus, and his passenger, Luis Parra Jimenez, suffered broken bones but survived the crash. Guzman told police she drank three or four Ciroc vodkas and a fruit drink of coconut and pineapple juices before the crash, which took place just before 3 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2014, on the Jamaicaway. Her blood alcohol content was 0.20, or 2- 1⁄ times 2 the legal limit, police said.

Sheets said his daughter is doing “terribly” as she struggles to cope with her mother’s death.

“She’s torn apart, she’s been torn apart since Day One. Her mother was not only her mother, she was her best friend — that can’t be replaced,” he said. “I tell her all the time, ‘If I could, I would give my life to bring her mother back.’ I would do it in a heartbeat.

“There is nothing I can do to take away my daughter’s pain,” he added. “And Jennifer Guzman is responsible for that.” Guzman’s attorney, Arthur Kelly, requested a bench trial as opposed to a jury trial at the beginning of the case. Guzman, free on $4,000 bail, wept into the arms of family members after the brief proceeding and declined comment to reporters. She is due back in court Thursday to be sentenced.

‘I don’t see how a judge could see a woman get behind the wheel of a car, and be responsible for two people’s deaths, and the judge sees fit for a one-year punishment.’ — ERNEST SHEETS, on the acquittal of Jennifer Guzman who killed his girlfriend