A Weslaco man was sentenced to prison Monday morning for killing his 24-year-old friend when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving while under the influence and crashed into a tree in 2020.
Gerardo Tamez III, 30, was convicted of intoxicated manslaughter as a result of the death of what Tamez’s defense attorney described as “one of his best friends,” Alex De La Rosa, who was the sole passenger at the time of Tamez’s crash.
Tamez has been sentenced to eight years in prison with a little more than two years in credit for time he’s spent behind bars awaiting the disposition of his case.
State prosecutors stated that the victim’s family didn’t want to be present for the sentencing as they “didn’t want to see the defendant anymore,” but agreed to the eight years prosecutors recommended.
Tamez has a history of possession of controlled substances, criminal mischief, violence and had been arrested for driving while intoxicated before, court and jail records indicate.
The fatal crash occurred on Sept. 16, 2020, at around 6:25 p.m. on Midway Road, south of Mile 5 North Road in Weslaco.
According to the press release, Tamez lost control of a silver Saturn SUV while traveling north on Midway due to him traveling at an unsafe speed on a caliche road which caused him to “side-skid,” striking a tree with the vehicle’s passenger side.
The probable cause affidavit stated that investigators found six cans of “compressed gas duster” and two pills of Alprazolam, which is the generic version of Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication.
His defense attorney told state District Judge Marla Cuellar that Tamez had been experiencing “depressions,” as well as “ups and downs,” in the years he’s been imprisoned and asked for five years in prison instead of eight.
He will be transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in the near future to serve his sentence.
