The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Man gets 14 years for crash
2 Lorain women died in 2016 incident
Matthew Glaze told family members of Maria Maldonado and Iris Candelario he was sorry March 5 for the vehicle crash that killed the Lorain women nearly two years ago.
The families of the two 58-year-old women and those who were injured in the July 2, 2016, crash filled the benches of Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John R. Miraldi’s courtroom in anticipation of the punishment for the 44-year-old Glaze.
Miraldi sentenced Glaze, who last lived in Elyria, to 14 years in prison for four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of OVI, two counts of
possession of drugs, two counts of aggravated vehicular assault, four counts of vehicular assault and single counts of tampering with evidence, driving under suspension and drug paraphernalia
A jury found Glaze guilty of the charges.
As part of his sentence, Glaze was sentenced to a lifetime driving suspension. He will not be eligible for early release.
Glaze’s attorney Michael J. Kinlin addressed the court saying the unemployed industrial roofer had lived a law abiding life for 44 years, and that the loss of his father, sister and his mother’s cancer diagnosis contributed to his involvement in the crash.
Glaze’s apology
“I can never express how horrible I feel about the accident I was in on July 2, 2016,” Glaze said. “I will never forget that day for the rest of my life. It was the day that I unintentionally caused the loss of two people’s lives as well as injuring two others.
“This has been a nightmare that will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life. It is my hope that someday you will be able to find it within your hearts to forgive me.”
Lyzette Valdez was driving Maldonado and Candelario to Ashland in her Chevrolet Cruze when they were struck by Glaze in his SUV at the intersection of state Routes 113 and 58 in Amherst Township.
Valdez described the impact the loss of Candelario and Maldonado has had on her during her statement before the court.
“Part of me died that day when my friends/sisters (Candelario and Maldonado) were so tragically taken away,” she said holding back tears. “To this day, I continue to receive treatment for the suffering of bouts of depression, anxiety and physical pain. I continue to have flashbacks of the accident almost every day.”
Valdez said there were times after the crash where she did not feel she had the will to live, but chose not to take her own life because it would hurt her loved ones.
“I still question why I didn’t go that day with my girls,” she said. “But I know that it was God’s will and it is my faith that is helping me get through this day and helping me along this way along with my family and friends.”
Maria Maldonado’s daughter, Elisa Maldonado, read a poem she’d written for her victim impact statement.
“How is it that I see myself moving and doing things, but I am not mentally really here?” Elisa Maldonado read. “How can I move on when I live in constant fear?”
Iris Candelario’s son, Carlos Candelario, and daughter, Alicia Candelario, also spoke.
Carlos Candelario shared about how at the time of the crash he had a good job and good prospects in Atlanta.
Since that time, he said he moved back to heal with his family, but what he truly lost was his relationship with his mother.
“There is a warmth that is absent in my life that is defined by my mother, Iris,” Carlos Candelario said. “I don’t hate Matthew Glaze. I bare him no ill will, or his family.
“I hope to one day forgive Matthew Glaze, but in light of that, there must be atonement for the transgressions we have suffered.”
Alicia Candelario described finding out her mother had been in a crash before she was about to set off for her own July 4 festivities.
“It is around 3 p.m. that I meet with the surgeon and he tells me they cannot keep her blood pressure up, she has suffered too much trauma and did not survive,” she said sniffing back tears. “I am faced with a room full of people staring at me wondering about my mother’s status.
“My breath leaves, the word escapes me and I collapse into my father’s arms as my aunt has to tell the family that her sister, Iris, is not alive.”
Ken Klein, Candelario’s significant other for 13 years, said they had planned to get married, but were waiting to tell anyone until they’d told her father.
Klein said she never got to tell Maldonado and Valdez.
He said Candelario and Maldonado would want those assembled to forgive Glaze.
“All of them would have said: forgive, do the best you can,” Klein said. “But they would have struggled with this, too.
“But they would have found a way. They would have found a way that I have not. I can’t do that.”
Before announcing the penalty, Miraldi said he read each of the letters sent to him from the victims’ families and they brought tears to his eyes.
But he was imposing the sentence based on punishments for similar crimes.
“Healing, restoration; they have to come from a power far greater than me,” he said.