Santa Fe man sentenced to 12 years for fatal DWI crash

June 3, 2020April 30, 2021 Wheeler Cowperthwaite

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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San Diego man killed in hit-and-run after being released from SF County jail

March 29, 2020April 30, 2021 Wheeler Cowperthwaite

SANTA FE, N.M. — State Police detectives are looking for a 2015 Ford truck, and its driver, which allegedly hit and killed 45-year-old Kevin Poirer around 10 p.m., March 27, 2020, as he walked down Highway 14, near the Santa Fe County Detention Center, which he had just been released from.

The driver of the truck, described as having front end damage and a missing mirror, allegedly fled the scene after hitting Poirer, State Police Officer and spokesman Ray Wilson wrote in a press release.

The truck hit Poirer near near mile post 43, he wrote.

Wilson spelled Poirer’s last name as “Poirier.”

Although Poirer was transported to St. Vincent’s Hospital, he died from his injuries, he wrote.

“The investigation indicates Poirier (sic) was walking south on Highway 14 and was struck by what investigators believe to be a south bound 2015 Ford Pick-up Truck,” Wilson wrote. “After striking Poirier, (sic) the truck fled the scene. The truck will have front end damage and will be missing a mirror.”

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Paulo Vega-Mendoza pleads to vehicular homicide with no agreement to sentence

April 29, 2019April 30, 2021 Wheeler Cowperthwaite

See the full case write-up here

SANTA FE, N.M. — Paulo Vega-Mendoza, of Santa Fe, will spend up to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty, April 29, to a single count of DWI vehicular homicide for a drunken crash that killed motorcyclist Paul Padilla, 63.

According to the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop the other charge he was facing, leaving the scene of an accident causing great bodily harm or death. However, there is no agreement on a sentence, which means District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington could sentence him to the maximum: 15 years.

Ellington set the sentencing hearing for Sept. 27, 2019.

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 died from extensive brain injuries on April 25, 2017.

For more details, please see the summary of the case.

Continue reading “Paulo Vega-Mendoza pleads to vehicular homicide with no agreement to sentence” →