Driver convicted of 3 DUIs pleads guilty in pregnant woman’s death, CA officials say
Even before James Alvarez stepped in a courtroom to face a repeat DUI driver accused of fatally hitting his pregnant wife over three years ago, he was ready.
“I’m gonna let her know that the pain that she caused me,” Alvarez said in a series of video stories posted to Facebook while standing outside the Orange County Superior Court building in southern California. “That my daughter will never get to meet my wife, will never get to meet her mom, and that destroys me.”
Courtney Fritz Pandolfi, 44, is accused of striking Yesenia Aguilar, 23, who was 8 months pregnant, while she was walking on an Anaheim sidewalk holding hands with Alvarez on Aug. 11, 2020, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a Tuesday, Feb. 6, news release.
The couple’s unborn daughter was delivered via emergency cesarean section, prosecutors said.
Just before her trial was to start on Tuesday, Pandolfi pleaded guilty to murder, as well as one other felony count and two drug-related charges from a 2019 arrest, according to prosecutors.
Frederick Fascenelli, Pandolfi’s attorney, did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Feb. 7.
“My client accomplished today what she wanted to do, which was to spare the family the additional grief and heartache of a trial,” Fascenelli told the Los Angeles Times. “She recognizes it was a tragic situation of her making.”
At the time of the accident, Pandolfi “was under the influence of a drug cocktail” that included cocaine and methamphetamine while behind the wheel of her Jeep SUV, prosecutors said.
The Jeep “jumped the curb” onto the sidewalk and “crashed into a metal newspaper stand,” before continuing down the sidewalk and striking Aguilar, prosecutors said.
Pandolfi, however, didn’t touch the brakes as she continued nearly 350 feet before her SUV was disabled, prosecutors said.
She had three prior DUI convictions and a fourth DUI case from 2019 was pending, according to prosecutors.
“This was not an accident. This is a woman who made a habit of driving while high,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the release. “She knew it was wrong, but she decided that being high was more important than the life of a young woman who was just weeks away from becoming a mother for the first time.”
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Alvarez held his 3-year-old daughter as he spoke to Pandolfi in the courtroom, ABC 7 News reported.
“I can finally put an end to this chapter and be able to fully heal and continue being the father that I can be for my daughter,” Alvarez said, the outlet reported. “I am just thankful that you finally took the responsibility for your actions.”
Pandolfi cried as she heard Alvarez’s words, the outlet reported.
Alvarez, though, said in a story posted to Facebook that he held back in court, saying he wanted to save his most emotional thoughts for Pandolfi’s sentencing hearing.
“I wish I could have told her everything I felt,” Alvarez said while sitting in his car with his daughter in his lap. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we find justice for my wife and for my daughter and myself and all my family, so I put aside my emotions.”
If convicted on all charges, Pandolfi could face 15 years to life in prison, prosecutors said. She is expected to appear in court again on April 12, according to online jail records.
Though Pandolfi pleaded guilty, Alvarez said in a story posted to Facebook that he’s not done fighting.
“Once this is done, I promise you that I’m gonna be a beacon and fight for everybody that lost someone like I did,” Alvarez said. “I’m gonna make sure that I make it up to Congress, and I stand up and I make these laws stricter.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Driver convicted of 3 DUIs pleads guilty in pregnant woman’s death, CA officials say."
