A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday for a drunken driving, multi-vehicle crash that killed a Colorado Ballet musician and hospitalized three others.
Juan Ortega Torres Jr., 23, pleaded guilty to one charge of vehicular homicide and two charges of vehicular assault in May, according to a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The plea dropped four additional counts of vehicular assault, driving under the influence and reckless driving from his case, according to court records.
On Tuesday, Ortega Torres was sentenced to 12 years in prison — half of the maximum 24-year sentence he could have received, according to the DA’s office.
The crash happened after Ortega Torres ran a red light at West 64th Avenue and Lamar Street in Arvada, crashing into three cars while going 60 mph in a 35 mph zone, the DA’s office said in the release.
Kresten Wolff Thomsen, 44, died in the crash and two children and the driver of another vehicle were injured, Arvada police said.
Thomsen was picking his two children up from school and was a few miles from home when the crash occurred. He was a composer, writer and musician who worked with the Colorado Ballet.
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“All of the words in all of the languages on earth will never be able to describe what a wonderful man this was,” Thomsen’s wife said to the court Tuesday. “Kresten and the loss of him consumes my every thought. I live in a sorrow that is indescribable, unpredictable, and inconsolable. I long for him every minute of every day.”
Ortega Torres said during the sentencing hearing that he wished he could trade places with Thomsen.
“I still can’t believe the harm I’ve done to this family,” Ortega Torres said. “I hope people believe me that I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
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