A Mexican National who in 2018 crashed his Dodge Charger at more than 100 mph into a Ford Mustang, sending the Mustang into a power pole and instantly killing its driver on a busy Tucson roadway, was properly convicted at trial, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled last week.
Virgilio F. Jimenez had challenged the jury’s verdicts of negligent homicide and criminal damage in the death of Connie Setrum near the intersection of Swan Road and East 29th Street shortly around 11:30 p.m. on April 27, 2018. The posted speed limit in that area was only 40 mph speed limit.
Jimenez, now 32, argued that a new trial was necessary because a Pima County Superior Court judge gave jurors a deliberation instruction related to civil traffic matters, not criminal. But a 3 to 0 decision released by the court of appeals March 12 confirmed the convictions and subsequent four-year prison term.
Court records show that moments before the collision, Setrum was making a left turn on a greenlight when Jimenez -whose speed was estimated at 104 mph- struck the Mustang, causing it to leave the roadway and hit a steel pole. Setrum’s Mustang was “split into almost unrecognizable pieces,” according to one report.
Jimenez, who had no known prior arrests in the United States, was indicted by a Pima County grand jury one year after the accident for second-degree murder. He then spent more than 200 days in jail awaiting trial.
Prior to jury deliberations, the judge read three specific instructions to jurors. Two instructions requested by Jimenez’s attorney addressed the Mustang driver’s “duty to yield” to oncoming traffic during a left turn and that the jury could consider any “superseding cause” as contributing to Jimenez’s criminal culpability.
A third instruction was requested by the prosecutor addressing a driver’s duty to not drive “at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent” and a driver’s duty to “control the speed of a vehicle as necessary to avoid colliding with any object, person, vehicle…”
The jury found Jimenez not guilty of second degree murder but guilty of the lesser-included offense of negligent homicide, as well as criminal damage. He then appealed.
“We view the facts in the light most favorable to upholding Jimenez’s convictions,” the appellate decision written by Presiding Judge Philip Espinosa states. “Accordingly, Jimenez has not established fundamental and prejudicial error, and we therefore affirm his negligent homicide conviction.”
The decision also affirmed the criminal damage verdict, noting it was “supported by sufficient evidence” for the jury to convict Jimenez.
Jimenez’s sentence with the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) runs through September 2022. The Department of Homeland Security has recorded an immigration detainer with ADC to kick in at the time of his release.
