Man gets 8 to 20 years in DUI crash that killed Henderson woman

Jorge Paz-Herrera should not have been behind the wheel of his pickup truck, headed the wrong way on the 215 Beltway, when he slammed into Jennie Marie Bergstrom’s car.

Paz-Herrera’s license had been revoked after a previous alcohol-related crash, and he had a history of driving drunk.

The Henderson woman was killed Sept. 9, and six months later, Paz-Herrera pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in death in connection with the fourth time he was accused of drunk driving.

Prosecutors said Paz-Herrera, 30, was headed southeast in the northwest lanes of the freeway near the Windmill exit when his red Toyota Tundra pickup truck collided with Bergstrom’s silver Hyundai Elantra.

Dozens of family members and friends of Bergstrom, who wore pink and white shirts emblazoned with her picture and the words “Justice 4 Jennie,” and Paz-Herrera attended the sentencing hearing, leaving no seats empty in the courtroom.

Bergstrom, who was on her way to work as a cocktail hostess at the time of the crash, had plans to move to California to be closer to family and further her education. She would have turned 29 next week.

“People loved her,” her mother, Arlene Bergstrom said, “just absolutely loved her.”

During sentencing Wednesday, Judge Carolyn Ellsworth ordered Paz-Herrera to serve 8 to 20 years in prison and pay more than $30,000 in restitution and fines. When he is released from prison, he must have an breathalyzer device attached to his vehicle for three years, the maximum amount of time allowed by law.

“This case should have never happened,” Ellsworth said. “The system seems to have failed us.”

The judge then read aloud Paz-Herrera’s history of alcohol-related arrests. His first came at age 19, when he was convicted of a misdemeanor for having an open alcohol container. He was ordered to attend a DUI victim impact panel and to pay a small fine.

When Paz-Herrera was 22, he was convicted of DUI after he was found passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle at Tropicana Boulevard and U.S. 95. He spent two days in jail.

Four months later, Paz-Herrera was found drunk and slumped over the steering wheel of his car. A judge sent him back to the victim impact panel.

Court records indicate he was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct in 2009, but that case was later dismissed.

Then in 2010, Paz-Herrera was charged with felony DUI after a rollover crash that injured him and his friends. But the charged was later reduced to misdemeanor reckless driving. Had he been convicted of DUI at the time, he could have faced prison time. But a judge in that case ordered him to pay fines and attend the victim impact panel once more.

Defense lawyer Craig Mueller told the judge that Paz-Herrera was the first in his family to graduate from college, and he worked as an engineer.

Last year, just after midnight on Sept. 9, prosecutors said Paz-Herrera’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit, at .221, when his pickup truck smashed head on into Bergstrom’s sedan, crushing the vehicle. They were both alone in their vehicles.

He suffered a few scrapes and bruises and walked away from the crash.

Bergstrom died at the scene.