A Missouri woman, pardoned earlier this month by President Donald Trump for her role in the January 6, 2021, attacks on the US Capitol, has been sentenced to prison time for a drunk driving crash in which one person was killed.
Emily Hernandez, 25, had been driving up the wrong side of the Missouri highway in 2022 at nearly double the legal alcohol limit, resulting in an accident with another car containing two passengers who had just celebrated their 15-year wedding anniversary, reported KSDK. The driver, 32-year-old Victoria Wilson, was killed, while her husband, Ryan E. Wilson, was injured in the collision.
At the time of the crash, Hernandez had a blood and alcohol concentration of .125 and had been driving the wrong way on Interstate 44 for several miles. A truck driver who witnessed the collision stated that Hernandez had been going the wrong way while traveling at about 60 miles an hour on the highway.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the death of Victoria, and further sentenced to an additional seven years in prison for injuring Ryan. Both sentences will be served by Hernandez concurrently.
The accident took place on January 5, 2022, only five days before Hernandez pleaded guilty to charges levied against her related to her involvement on January 6.
Video footage from the 2021 Capitol riots shows Hernandez within the Capitol building, having stolen a sign from then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office. She was sentenced to 45 days in prison and ordered to pay a $500 fine for her role in the riots, sentencing that was discarded with President Trump's pardon.
However, Hernandez was sent back to court in Franklin County, Missouri, upon receiving the federal pardon in order to face her drunk driving charges.
"What I did was ungodly and I will live with that shame for the rest of my life. I am sorry for what I did and if I could take it all back, I would," Hernandez said at her sentencing, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
"[Her death] is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about each night. When I lost Vickie, I lost a part of me," said Victoria Wilson's mother.
Originally published by Latin Times.
