By KATY BRANDENBURG
The Union Democrat
A man who pleaded guilty to killing a young woman in a crash following a police chase in May was sentenced Monday to six years in state prison.
Ricky Chavez Jr., 23, was convicted of evading police and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He has prior felony convictions for assault and battery and methamphetamine possession, and was denied the possibility of probation. Judge Eric Du Temple ordered his license be suspended for three years and that Chavez pay the family of Holly Corinne Hanson, the 22-year-old passenger who died, restitution in the amount of $6,384.
Chavez was driving with Hansen the 1998 Chevy Cavalier in the early morning hours of May 16 on Highway 108 when a California Highway Patrol officer attempted to stop him for speeding.
Chavez was intoxicated and, instead of stopping, he led police on a chase through downtown Sonora and crashed on
Stockton Road while attempting to get back on Highway 108. The car overturned, rolling several times, and both Chavez and Hanson were ejected. Chavez then fled on foot, and police apprehended him a short distance away from the accident scene. Hanson died.
Hanson's older sister, Heidi Rissetto, wept as she read aloud a prepared statement prior to the sentence. Other family members and friends cried too, as they listened to Rissetto describe her sister as "her little twin."
"Holly and I had a special bond," she said. "Ricky Chavez's fatal decision has impacted my life, our family, the Oakdale community, and most of all my 3-year-old niece... It breaks my heart to think of all the important events she'll experience without her mother."
Rissetto said distance grew between her and her sister when Hanson began seeing Chavez. Instead of celebrating her brother's birthday in May, Hanson's family was picking out her casket, Rissetto said.
"Six years is hardly fair considering we have a lifetime of loss and sadness," she said. "Our family portrait is forever altered."
Chavez listened with bowed head as Rissetto described her 86-year-old grandmother burying her 22-year-old granddaughter. He could be seen wiping his eyes.
Not allowed to speak, Chavez gave one last glance at Hanson's family members before deputies escorted him to the van waiting to take him to prison.
