Editor’s Note: This story published late, eight months after sentencing, because court records were not previously available.
Read the case write up
SANTA FE, N.M. — Paulo Vega-Mendoza will spend 12 years in prison for crashing into motorcyclist Paul Padilla and killing him, in 2017.
District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington sentenced Vega-Mendoza, 25, of Santa Fe, to 12 years followed by three years of supervised probation on Sept. 27, 2019. He had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of DWI vehicular homicide on April 29, 2019, under a plea signed by prosecutor Blake Nichols.
Ellington gave Vega-Mendoza credit for 792 days served, just over two years, for time spent in jail and on electronic monitoring prior sentencing.
Vega-Mendoza ran into the back of Padilla’s motorcycle, April 15, 2017, on Airport Road in Santa Fe. He fled from the scene and then crashed his own car, a Dodge Neon. It landed on its hood.
Witnesses, and then officers, allegedly chased Vega-Mendoza on foot before he tried to climb and fence and it broke, throwing him backward.
Padilla, 63, died from extensive brain injuries on April 25, 2017.
For more details, please see the summary of the case.
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- Suspect: Paulo Vega-Mendoza
- Victim: Paul Padilla, 63
- Charges: DWI great bodily harm, knowingly leaving the scene of an accident causing great bodily harm or death, failure to give notice of an accident and criminal damage to property under $1,000
- Status: Sentenced following guilty plea to vehicular homicide DWI
- Sentence: 12 years followed by 3 years supervised probation
- Date of incident: April 15, 2017
- Agency: Santa Fe Police Department
- Location: Airport Road, Santa Fe
- Magistrate case number: M-49-FR-2017-00472
- District case number: D-101-CR-201700533
- Sentencing judge: T. Glenn Ellington
- Judicial district: First Judicial District
- Prosecutor: Blake Nichols
- Prosecuting agency: First Judicial District Attorney’s Office
It’s heartbreaking to hear about the loss of life due to impaired driving, and it’s important to see justice being served in cases like these. I appreciate how you provided a summary of the case and the consequences for the individual responsible for the crash. Do you think the sentencing was appropriate, given the circumstances? It’s a difficult topic to discuss, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on how we can prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future.