Mother of 3 Died : Drunk Driver Gets 7 Years in Fatal Crash

A Simi Valley drunk driver who caused a collision that killed the mother of three young children was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in state prison.

Roberto Zamora, 23, had a blood alcohol level of 0.20--twice the legal limit--when he caused a collision in May that left Anne Adkins, 30, dead. He had been driving as fast 80 to 100 m.p.h. on the Simi Valley Freeway when he swerved into another lane and hit a car that plowed into Adkins’ vehicle.

Zamora pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular manslaughter last month in San Fernando Superior Court.

Adkins’ 4-year-old son was in the back seat of the car and survived the accident.

In a letter read to the court Wednesday, Adkins’ mother, Gloria DeHart, said the child is haunted by the experience. Frequently he wakes up at night screaming, “Don’t look. Mommy is dead,” the letter said.

Child Panics

If his father comes home from work late, the child panics and screams, imagining perhaps that his father has been killed too, the letter said.

Adkins also left behind two daughters, ages 12 and 8, and her husband of 13 years.

Members of Adkins’ family and Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Barshop pleaded with Judge John Farrell to sentence Zamora to the maximum prison term of twelve years.

But Farrell imposed the lesser sentence of seven years, he said, because Zamora had no prior criminal record and never had been arrested for any driving or alcohol-related offenses. The judge also said that Zamora had pleaded guilty, sparing the victim’s family the pain of a trial.

“My heart goes out to the victims, but the legally correct thing to do” was to impose the lesser sentence, Farrell said. Under state law, he said, judges are supposed to impose a sentence shorter than the maximum unless they find that aggravating factors, such as previous convictions, exist.