Driver Gets 8 Years in Death of Infant

A Los Angeles man convicted of vehicular manslaughter when he crashed a stolen car into another vehicle, killing an Oxnard infant, was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison.

Under the sentence handed down by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie, Oswaldo Antonio Pacheco will serve up to six years for vehicular manslaughter in the December death of the baby boy, one year for seriously injuring the boy’s mother and another year for automobile theft.

However, Pacheco could be released as early as 2004, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Redmond.

Pacheco, 29, pleaded no contest to the charges last month. He previously had been convicted twice of auto theft.

Pacheco was driving under the influence of alcohol when he stole an Infiniti while partying in Oxnard on Dec. 21, Redmond said. Pacheco saw a police officer, got nervous and drove into oncoming traffic on Rice Avenue, striking a car driven by Maria Elena Gutierrez Lopez. Lopez and three of her children, including 7-month-old Henry Valdez, were driving home from a Christmas shopping trip.

Henry died the next day of head injuries. Lopez, who did not attend the sentencing, suffered serious injuries. Redmond said Henry’s siblings still suffer from flashbacks and that Pacheco’s own wife and children are devastated.

“You realize the impact of this type of crime,” Redmond said. “You have someone who’s dead because this guy wasn’t thinking that night.”