Driver who killed Las Vegas mom of 4 gets just under a year in prison

A Las Vegas judge sentenced a man accused of killing a mother of four in a central valley crash to just under a year in jail, overruling his plea deal’s recommendation for a suspended sentence.

On Tuesday, Gerardo Lopez pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving — both misdemeanors — in connection with the March 5 death of Jessica Fodge. The 31-year-old mother had just walked her children to school and was on a sidewalk near University Center Drive and East Twain Avenue when a Chevrolet Trax compact SUV ran a red light, made a wide turn, drove into the curb and hit her, according to her family and police.

During sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Suzanne Rorhus explained that, following negotiations, the state and defense attorney Kevin Coburn agreed Lopez should receive a suspended sentence of 180 days in jail for each charge he pleaded to.

The agreement also required Lopez to give up his driver’s license and pay about $2,000 in restitution to Fodge’s family for funeral expenses.

Lopez was originally arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. However, when his blood results returned, they were “completely clean,” which prompted prosecutors not to pursue the charge and instead to negotiate, Coburn said.

Rorhus and Coburn presented pro tem justice of the peace William Jansen with a video of the crash. While the footage was not shown to the entire courtroom, Rorhus described its contents: several vehicles had stopped at a red light when Lopez, speeding, bypassed them by driving on the wrong side of the road, made a left turn, and then crashed into the sidewalk.

Coburn added that Lopez, who was not in custody and sat in a wheelchair during his appearance, suffers from a physical disability that may have caused the accident.

“So our belief in what happened here is that he was attempting to stop the vehicle but was unable to do that,” Coburn said. “He tried to navigate the turn as best he could. It was not sufficient, and he went up onto the curb and ultimately, tragically, caused the death of the victim.”

Fodge’s sisters, Heather Smith and Hollie Cortez, spoke at the hearing and urged Jansen to issue a harsher sentence than the attorneys’ recommendation. In July, they sought a postponement of Lopez’s sentencing, telling the judge they had not been consulted regarding the plea agreement.

At the continued sentencing on Tuesday, Rorhus responded to the allegations, saying that the district attorney’s office had spoken to various family members — including the father of Fodge’s children, Fodge’s biological father, and the sisters — “a lot” through email and at least 14 times on the phone.

Smith, who spoke first, told Jansen that when she and Cortez received their sister’s autopsy report, they learned that her ribs had been “scattered throughout her body.” Smith added that Fodge, who was the youngest of five children, left behind four of her own, all under the age of 10.

Cortez said that she “did not appreciate” recommendations to suspend Lopez’s sentence.

“This sentence is already a drop in a bucket compared to a lifetime of not having your parent,” Smith said. “My sister suffered and died. Nobody will ever see her again. If this is what the court is going to charge this man with, then he should receive the actual sentence.”

Jansen, noting that Lopez had displayed a “disregard for traffic regulations,” ordered him to spend about a year behind bars.

Smith and Cortez gasped in the audience as Jansen announced his ruling, and a marshal handcuffed Lopez. After the hearing, the sisters said they felt relieved and elated.

“We can tell her kids that we fought to get the best version of justice we could for their mother,” Cortez said. “If we had let it go, he [Lopez] would’ve just walked away.”

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported Lopez’s sentence.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.