Gutierrez sentenced for woman's death

Wednesday, February 9th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) -- A man who was driving drunk when his pickup truck slammed into a car, killing one person and injuring three, is going to prison for four years after a judge said he wasn't ready to throw the man away for life. District Judge Jim Edmondson sentenced Roman Salinas Gutierrez, 31, of Muskogee to eight years in prison Tuesday but then suspended four of those years.

Gutierrez pleaded guilty in December to manslaughter for the June 1998 death of Kimberly Dawn Price Stewart, 34, of Porum. Prosecutor Dean Burris and the victim's family asked the judge to give Gutierrez the maximum sentence of life in prison. The family said they had suffered much since the death. "He is not a scumbag that I'm ready to throw away for life, and I'm not going to do that," the judge said.

Stewart's daughter and niece as well as a passenger in Gutierrez' truck were injured in the crash that occurred as Gutierrez drove in the wrong lane of traffic. The girls, both 16, are living with a grandfather. Gutierrez apologized to the family during the sentencing. His wife, Elena, told the court that her husband once tried to write al etter to the family and even thought about adopting one of the girls. "I don't care what anybody says, he is sorry for what he did," she said. "He cares about those girls." "No matter where I go, I'm going to continue to pray for y'all. I don't know why or what I can do. I know there's nothing I can do to bring the person that is gone. Deep in my heart, I want to say that I'm sorry, and God bless you," he said.

Gutierrez received two three-year sentences and one one-year sentence to run concurrent on the other charges of causing bodily harm to the three people injured in the crash. Gutierrez must pay $1,000 to a victims' compensation fund and also perform 250 hours of community service.