A Missouri woman, who was pardoned earlier this month by President Donald Trump for her role in the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol, has been sentenced to prison for a drunk driving crash that killed one person.
Emily Hernandez, 25, was driving up the wrong side of the Missouri highway in 2022 at nearly double the legal alcohol limit, causing an accident with another car carrying two passengers who had just celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary, according to KSDK.
The driver, Victoria Wilson, 32, was killed in the collision, while her husband, Ryan E. Wilson, sustained injuries.
Hernandez had a blood alcohol concentration of.125 and had been driving the wrong way on Interstate 44 for several miles before the crash. A truck driver who witnessed the collision stated that Hernandez was driving the wrong way on the highway at about 60 mph.
She was sentenced to ten years in prison for Victoria’s death, plus seven years for injuring Ryan. Hernandez will serve both sentences concurrently.
The accident occurred on January 5, 2022, just five days before Hernandez pleaded guilty to charges stemming from her involvement on January 6.
Hernandez can be seen in video footage from the 2021 Capitol riots, where he stole a sign from then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. She was sentenced to 45 days in prison and a $500 fine for her role in the riots, but the sentence was vacated with President Trump’s pardon.
However, Hernandez was returned to court in Franklin County, Missouri, after receiving the federal pardon, to face her drunk driving charges.
“What I did was ungodly, and I will carry that shame for the rest of my life. “I am sorry for what I did, and if I could do it all over again, I would,” Hernandez said during her sentencing, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
“[Her death] is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.” “When I lost Vickie, I lost a part of myself,” said Victoria Wilson’s mother.
