Woman who killed husband in DUI crash will serve sentence at home
A woman who drove drunk without a license and caused a crash that killed her husband of 25 years was ordered Wednesday to serve about three months of home confinement and three years supervised probation.
Candelaria Castillo, 55, of Indio, was sentenced to six months incarceration, to be served with a GPS ankle monitor system instead of county jail. Under state sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenders, she can receive two days of credit for each day she actually serves in custody. “I’m very pleased with the outcome,” said her attorney, Anthony Valente of Palm Desert. “I think that this was a tragic accident. She’s going to be living with this for the rest of her life.”
Castillo pleaded guilty July 15 to a single felony count of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter. Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two felony counts of DUI causing injury.
The crash occurred about 7 p.m. Oct. 22 as the couple were returning home from their daughter’s residence in Coachella. Castillo was behind the wheel of a Honda Accord, with her husband, Felipe, in the passenger seat, when the car clipped the back of a large tractor on Avenue 50 near Fillmore Street, court records show.
The driver of the tractor was thrown from the vehicle and briefly knocked unconscious. Valente said it was unclear whether Castillo could have avoided the crash even if she had been sober. Arriving deputies found Candelaria Castillo trapped in the driver’s seat with her seatbelt on and her husband lying in the street beside the crumpled Accord.
Felipe Castillo, 73, was taken to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, then airlifted for more intensive treatment at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. He died six days later. Candelaria Castillo was treated for minor injuries at Desert Regional Medical Center. During an interview with investigators, she said she could not remember which direction she was traveling, or how fast she was going at the time of the crash.
A blood test taken at the hospital showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.27, more than three times the legal limit, court records show. Investigators also determined she had never been issued a driver’s license. She was arrested in December and was free on $85,000 bail.
