Driver sentenced to 3 years in prison
A man accused of driving while high and crashing near Longmont, killing his stepbrother, was sentenced to three years in prison.
Anthony Hayden Munoz, 20, pleaded guilty in December to vehicular homicide — reckless in connection with the death of Victor Pinon.
Prosecutors asked for the maximum of six years in prison, but Boulder District Judge Nancy Salomone went with a three-year sentence to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
“This is a tragic case where Mr. Munoz made a dangerous, reckless decision to drive while he was under the influence of drugs,” Deputy District Attorneys Michelle Sudano and Breck Roesch said in a statement. “That decision cost Victor Pinon his life. We are thankful for the work of (Colorado State Patrol) and the DA’S Office Investigations Unit to ensure that Mr. Munoz was held accountable and to hopefully bring some sense of closure to Mr. Pinon’s family.”
According to an affidavit, police were called to the scene of the crash at 8:47 a.m. Jan. 23, 2021, off U.S. 287 near Plateau Road. Investigators
said a sedan had gone off the west side of the highway and crashed into two trees before ending up in a ditch near Dry Creek.
First responders found Munoz walking outside the car and transported him to a hospital. Pinon was found dead in the back seat.
Munoz’s grandfather was the owner of the vehicle and was the one who called in the crash. The man said Munoz had last texted him the night before the crash about going with Pinon to pick up something from a friend’s house.
When Munoz was not at home the next morning, his grandfather called and Munoz said he had been in a crash but did not know where he was. The grandfather was ultimately able to locate the crash and call police.
Based on text conversations, police believe the crash occurred between 1 a.m. and 3:50 a.m.
When questioned at the hospital, Munoz said he had been looking at his phone for directions when they went off the road and crashed. Munoz said he lost his phone during the crash, and thought Pinon was asleep.
Munoz said he also went to sleep before waking up in the morning when someone called his phone. Munoz said he was then able to locate his phone and help his family find the crash site.
Munoz said he himself never called 911, and he denied using drugs or alcohol before the crash.
Police said it appeared that Munoz at the time had not yet heard that Pinon had died in the crash.
Witnesses later said they believed Munoz and Pinon had met up with a friend to get high, and phone records indicated they had been using Xanax.
Munoz’s blood results
showed signs of THC and fluoxetine, an antidepressant found in Prozac.
The test also showed the presence of clonazolam, a derivative of alprazolam, which is sold under the brand name Xanax.
The affidavit concludes with a Colorado State Patrol investigator writing, “Mr. Munoz’s decision to operate a motor vehicle the early morning of Jan. 23, 2021, was the proximate cause of the death of Victor Pinon.”