A twice-convicted drunken driver who pleaded guilty to murder for an alcohol-fueled crash that killed two people on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Irvine in 2021 was given a life sentence Friday.
Jorge ErastoCruz, 37, of Lake Forest, was sentenced to 19 years and four months to life in prison. He was given credit for 1,371 days behind bars.
ErastoCruz pleaded guilty June 6 to two counts of second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and a count of DUI with a blood-alcohol level at 0.08% or higher causing injury, all felonies.
ErastoCruz was also charged with a misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended or revoked license due to DUI.
The defendant also admitted sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury while committing a felony.
At the time of the crash, ErastoCruz was on probation for two DUIs in 2019, according to court records.
The crash occurred about 2:10 a.m. Nov. 14, 2021, on the southbound Santa Ana Freeway just north of Yale Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Alice Read, 25, of San Diego, and 18-year-old Joshua Johnson were killed in the crash.
According to the CHP, Shalaya A. Sierra, 23, of San Diego, was driving a 2016 Honda Civic, which stopped on the right shoulder of the freeway. A man got out of the car and was struck — to an unknown severity — by another vehicle, according to the CHP.
Erastocruz, driving a GMC Yukon, “made an evasive maneuver” because of the man who had been struck in the road, but he veered off the roadway to the right and slammed into the rear of the stopped Honda Civic, the CHP reported.
“As a result of this collision,” Read, who was in the middle rear seat of the Honda, and (Johnson) who got out of the vehicle were killed, the CHP said. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene and Read was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the CHP.
ErastoCruz pleaded guilty July 31, 2019, to two misdemeanor DUIs in Orange County. One occurred on Oct. 18, 2018, and the other was Dec. 30, 2018. As a result, he was placed on five years of informal probation.
The prior convictions for DUI allow prosecutors to upgrade any charges from manslaughter to second-degree murder under state law.