Feb. 8 (UPI) — A California teen who livestreamed a car crash that killed her younger sister was sentenced to prison on Thursday.
Merced County Visiting Judge Ronald Hansen sentenced Obdulia Sanchez, 19, to six years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and child endangerment last month.
Instagram video of the July 2017 showed Sanchez losing control of her 2003 Buick while driving drunk and crashing as her 14-year-old sister, Jacqueline Sanchez, and another 14-year-old girl sat in the back seat.
Both girls in the backseat of the vehicle were ejected. Sanchez’s sister, Jacqueline, was killed and the second teen was hospitalized with an injury to her right leg.
Neither was wearing a seatbelt.
Sanchez read a statement prior to her sentencing expressing remorse for the crash.
“I feel like such an idiot,” she said. “Why did God choose me to be the older sister. I can’t even do my job right.”
Sanchez could be eligible for release as early as Sept. 21, 2020 with time she has already spent in jail and good behavior in prison.
Merced County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Min sought the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, saying Sanchez showed “callousness” in the Instagram video in which she said “I don’t care if I go to jail for life.”
Sanchez’s blood alcohol level was registered at 0.106 about 90 minutes after the crash and Min said she tried to purchase alcohol at a store but had an adult acquaintance buy it for her after she was turned down.
Her blood samples also tested positive for marijuana and cocaine.
Sanchez’s attorney Merced County Deputy Public Defender Ramnik Samrao argued to allow her probation, saying she was sexually abused by someone close to her family at the age of 11. Two years later she was abducted by a 46-year-old man who forced her to use methamphetamine and alcohol, fueling an addiction to drugs and alcohol.
She was later ordered to enter rehabilitation and was succeeding with the help of counseling before exercising her right to move back home when she turned 18.
“Probation is very rare, very rare,” Hansen said. “The max is very, very rare, with this person’s background.”
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