A driver whose grisly wreck killed a young mother in 2023 was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in prison, despite remarkable appeals for leniency from the victim’s mother and a surviving passenger who both blamed an Orlando police officer for the high-speed chase that led to the fatal accident.
Circuit Judge Greg Tynan, conducting his second hearing of the week in the high-profile case, made no mention of the police in explaining his sentence but focused instead on the criminal history of Jaicarious Grace, 30, who was driving on a suspended license and had previously been convicted of fleeing and eluding.
As revealed in a September 2024 story in the Orlando Sentinel, officer Esequiel Colon disregarded the department’s pursuit policy chasing the Lexus RC350 that Grace was driving in a Parramore neighborhood and never activated his siren or lights until after the Lexus crashed into a Honda Civic. Colon initiated the chase because Grace ran a red light.
To shorten the prison term recommended by Florida’s sentencing guidelines, Tynan said, state law requires that he must determine the crime was “an isolated incident.” He said he could not do so, enumerating offenses Grace committed five and 10 years ago.
He also dismissed an argument by assistant public defender Brittany Sakovich, Grace’s lawyer, that police should shoulder “comparative negligence” for the deadly chase. The crash at West Anderson Street and Parramore Avenue — a few blocks from The KIA Center — killed Delmy Alvarez, 28, and critically injured her friend, Gina Mustacchio, who scolded Orlando police in remarks to the judge.
Sakovich asked the judge to sentence Grace to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation.
She noted both Alvarez’ mother, Marta Lopez, and Mustacchio supported a prison sentence below the state’s guidelines.
Mustacchio had said Grace is paying “not only for his own sins but the sins of the Orlando PD.”
Speaking to the court via video from Boston, where she now lives, Mustacchio addressed Grace, who was ferrying nearly three pounds of marijuana in the Lexus’ trunk Noting Colon’s decision not to use emergency protocols, she said, “Maybe you shouldn’t have run that red light with all that weed in the car, but I wouldn’t have pulled over until the cop hit his lights either and I don’t believe that anyone else would.”
Jaicarious Grace is led from the courtroom after his 13-year sentence is pronounced. (Orlando Sentinel/Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda)
She was outraged Colon “sacrificed a whole 40 hours of PTO for Delmy’s life,” his punishment for ignoring OPD’s pursuit policy, which allows an officer to initiate such a dangerous chase only with evidence or strong suspicion of a “forcible felony.” Grace’s traffic infraction did not qualify.
Marta Lopez, Delmy Alvarez’ mother, described her daughter as “my light,” a good mother of two, and a good person.
Speaking in Spanish to the judge, Lopez stopped several times to wipe tears from her face. “To this day, I have not been able to look at the urn where my daughter’s ashes rest,” she said. “There are no celebrations or joy now — only absences and deep pain.”
She said her granddaughter Marianna, a grade-schooler, often asks where her mother is.
The needless death of Delmy Alvarez
Lopez said she faults police for hiding the truth from her.
Police did not respond to an email seeking comment about the victims’ criticisms.
Speaking publicly about the crash for the first time, Grace — who withdrew his not guilty pleas in a Monday hearing — apologized to Lopez and Mustacchio.
“I hold myself accountable. I’m not here pointing the finger at anybody,” he said.
He said he did not consider that police were chasing him. “I was in a high crime area late at night,” Grace said. “I noticed the car behind me was speeding up, getting close…All I could see was it coming closer and closer. I got nervous. I thought it was a robbery.”
Grace said he ran the light when he turned to look behind him.
“I’m not a bad person. I made mistakes in my past when I was 18 years old and I’m still being judged for it,” he said.
The judge said he had no doubt Grace was remorseful, but the law called for a punishment of prison.
He also suspended Grace’s license for life.
shudak@orlandosentinel.com