Blake Benham was the principal at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Dinuba when he drove his pickup truck head-on into the SUV of 55-year-old Gloria Barajas and her daughter, 35-year-old Brenda Quinonez, on Dec. 3.
They both died in the crash.
Friday, roughly a year-and-a-half later, Tulare County Judge Jennifer Shirk read aloud Benham’s fate in front of a packed courtroom of family and friends from each side, a room of about 80 people.
In May, Benham pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and one count of driving with a .08 blood alcohol content or higher causing injury.
He had also been charged with two counts of murder in the case before they were dismissed.
Either way, he’ll spend over two decades in prison.
Still, family members and another survivor from that crash are left feeling empty; only satisfied so much with the justice served.
“I only remember standing between both of their caskets, surrounded by my siblings and just crying. That’s the image that’s burned into my head,” said Jennifer Quinonez, daughter and sister of the victims. “We didn’t get a final goodbye. We didn’t get closure. All we have now is grief.”
Jennifer, also in the car that day, survived the crash. She says it came just after the family finished Christmas shopping.
It took her nearly a month in the hospital to recover physically, but mentally and emotionally, she says she and her family will always be scarred.
“My mother and sister used to always tell us that one stupid decision can cost someone their family,” she said to the court. “And it’s a tragic irony that such wisdom came from people who lost their lives because of exactly that.”
Benham, with tears running down his face and sniffles heard throughout the proceedings, also spoke directly to the family of the victims.
“I want you to know that I’m so sorry for what I did. I want to make it clear that I take full responsibility,” he said.
“I didn’t deserve to walk away from the accident alive and I don’t know exactly why I did,” said Benham. “I know that I deserve to go to prison.”
The judge also ordered Benham to pay $10,000 in restitution to the victims’ family. He plans to work throughout his time behind bars to do so.
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