A Utah teen accused of causing a February crash that killed two of his West High School classmates and critically injured a pregnant woman and her baby has pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges.
Abraham Miranda, 19, pleaded guilty Friday morning to two counts of second-degree felony mansluaghter. A charge of misdemeanor reckless endangerment was dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to court records.
His sentencing date has been scheduled for Dec. 21 before 3rd District Judge Keith Kelly.
Prosecutors said at a previous court hearing that if Miranda took the plea deal, they woudl recommend that he serve a year of jail time. The judge, however, could sentence him to a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison for each charge.
Defense attorney Greg Skordas said Friday that the plea deal was made with input from everyone, including the victims’ families.
Seventeen-year-old Vidal Pacheco-Tinoco and 18-year-old Dylan Emilio Hernandez died in the Feb. 16 crash, while 32-year-old Amy Elizabeth Stevenson-Wilson was critically injured.
The crash happened at about 11:30 a.m., as Miranda was driving north on 300 West at about 95 mph in a 40 mph zone, charges say. Pacheco-Tinoco was in the front passenger seat of the car Miranda was driving, and Hernandez was in the back seat. The three teens were classmates at Salt Lake City’s West High School.
As they approached 700 North, Stevenson-Wilson, who was 34 weeks pregnant, was driving east and approaching the intersection, according to charges.
Miranda “attempted an evasive maneuver, struck the center median, traveled into oncoming traffic and collided” with Stevenson-Wilson’s SUV, charges say.
Stevenson-Wilson’s SUV rotated clockwise upon impact, charges say, and traveled west into a building at 721 N. 300 West.
Miranda told police that he was “going fast” because “he was in a hurry to get to the arcade,” charges state.
Stevenson-Wilson, a Utah native who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., was heading to the Salt Lake City LDS Temple that day, her brother told The Salt Lake Tribune in February.
Both Pacheco-Tinoco and Hernandez died of blunt force injuries, an autopsy revealed.
Stevenson-Wilson suffered “traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding requiring the removal of her kidney and spleen and 15 broken bones,” charges state.
Though doctors at University Hospital performed an “emergency C-section,” Stevenson-Wilson‘s baby girl had brain damage and will have trouble using her left side, doctors have said.