GRAND HAVEN, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Sept. 26, 2023) – A 31-year-old Holland woman will spend between two and five years in prison for the deaths of three of her sons in a motoring incident 19 months ago.
Leticia Gonzales was sentenced on Monday by Ottawa County Circuit Court Judge Jon Hulsing after pleading no contest to one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing injury, and three counts of a moving violation causing death. She was behind the wheel of a SUV on February 7, 2022 when she lost control on James Street between 112th and 120th avenues. The vehicle veered to the south, flipping over after striking a curb, and coming to rest in a pond. Gonzales was able to escape safely, but the children, aged one through four, were in approved child safety seats, but succumbed to their injuries suffered in the incident.
She was initially charged with three counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, as tests indicated that she had not only initially taken a prescribed dose of a drug used to treat an opioid use disorder, but had taken an additional, unprescribed dose a few hours before the incident. Gonzales had initially pled no contest to reduced charges in April, but Hulsing rejected that agreement with prosecutors, so she submitted this second no contest plea in August.
Comments