A 21-year-old Fort Worth man has been sentenced to 68 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of five counts of intoxication manslaughter in a high-speed crash that killed five people, including three children.<\/p>\n
Eduardo Gonzalez received 17 years in prison for each count. The sentences involving the three child victims will be served consecutively, while the sentences for the two adult victims will run concurrently. The jury also assessed $50,000 in fines, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.<\/p>\n
The crash happened shortly after midnight Aug. 19, 2024, on I-35W.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez was driving a Chevrolet Camaro northbound at approximately 130 mph after drinking beer and consuming THC, according to prosecutors. Near the East Seminary Drive exit, he struck the back of another vehicle, causing it to burst into flames.<\/p>\n
All five people inside the vehicle died.<\/p>\n
The victims were identified as Willie Gunn, 48; Amber Hopewell, 38; and three of Hopewell’s children: Elijah Carroll, 9; Chrystale Cobbin, 4; and Amiyah Fisher, 2.<\/p>\n
Investigators found several alcoholic beverages inside Gonzalez’s Camaro. Officers at the scene also reported that Gonzalez had red and watery eyes, slurred speech and breath that smelled of alcohol.<\/p>\n
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Lloyd Whelchel told jurors Gonzalez had been driving approximately 130 mph while under the influence of THC and alcohol.<\/p>\n
“He never looked up. He never saw the car,” Whelchel said. “He killed that family. We are asking for justice.”<\/p>\n
Assistant District Attorney Neal Maranto told jurors Gonzalez knew he was intoxicated before the crash but continued driving.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said the verdict holds Gonzalez accountable for the five deaths.<\/p>\n
“No sentence can restore those lives, but this verdict holds him accountable for every one of them,” Sorrells said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 21-year-old Fort Worth man has been sentenced to 68 years in prison after a jury found him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-481901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}