The intersection in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Vilchis fatally struck Murray (Google Maps).
A 23-year-old woman in Michigan will spend a year behind bars for fatally striking a 79-year-old man in a wheelchair while driving drunk and then fleeing the scene.
Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Carol Kuhnke sentenced Areli Beraza Vilchis to 365 days in jail in connection with the death of Robert Murray after Vilchis pleaded guilty to one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in death, court records show.
Vilchis was driving east on East Huron Street just before midnight on May 5, the Ann Arbor Record reported. Murray was crossing East Huron in his wheelchair at the intersection of North Fourth Avenue when "the traffic signal changed" and Vilchis struck him with her car. Police said she then fled the scene before law enforcement arrived.
Emergency medical personnel treated Murray at the scene before transporting him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Vilchis turned herself in to authorities the following day, telling investigators she was not aware she had struck a person at the time of the collision.
During the Nov. 6 sentencing hearing, Murray's widow read a victim impact statement in which she called her husband her "best friend" and addressed Vilchis directly.
"You made a choice, darling. You left that establishment, and you could have turned around before you walked out that door. You could have got some coffee. You could have called an Uber, but you said no," Joyce Murray said, according to a report from MLive. "I feel for you because you're so young, my darling. I'm glad you turned yourself in the next day, but we lost a loved one."
Robert Murray, who lived in the apartment building right across the street from where Vilchis struck him, had reportedly gone out that evening to purchase beer. His widow said that despite using a wheelchair, Robert Murray remained independent and lively.
The judge reportedly told Vilchis she was "skeptical" about her claim that she didn't know she had struck a person, but credited her turning herself in rather than "continuing to hide."
Vilchis also addressed the court, apologizing to Robert Murray's family and saying she had to live the rest of her life with "the guilt, the sadness and remorse" of killing a person, MLive reported.
"These actions cannot be undone," she reportedly said. "I'm not expecting forgiveness. My hope is that you hear my sincerest apologies."
Vilchis is scheduled to be released from jail on Nov. 6, 2029, to begin two years of probation, records show.