Man Gets 20 Years to Life in Traffic Death of 2 Students

A Palmdale man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years to life in prison for the murders of two San Fernando Valley high school students whose car he broadsided while fleeing police in his pickup truck.

Ray Vargas Servin, 22, was sentenced by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge James M. Coleman to the term agreed upon last month when Servin pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.

As part of the plea bargain, Coleman dropped one count of evading police. If convicted by a jury, Servin could have received a maximum sentence of 36 years to life in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said. But she said prosecutors would not have sought that sentence because Servin did not intentionally kill the students.

The two students, Uriel Fernandez, 16, of Pacoima and Aracely Hernandez, 18, of San Fernando were on their way home from a June 1 pep rally at Sylmar High School when Servin’s pickup truck slammed into their car in Mission Hills.

Servin was fleeing police who saw him fire several pistol shots into the air during a fight outside a Pacoima house, police said. Police chased Servin’s truck west on Chatsworth Avenue at speeds up to 60 m.p.h. before Servin ran a red light at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and struck Fernandez’s car, police said.

Fernandez, a junior at San Fernando High School, died at a local hospital and Hernandez, a cheerleader at Sylmar High School, died at the accident scene. A second passenger in Fernandez’s car suffered cuts and bruises.

Servin was found hiding in bushes nearby.