An Alamo man pleaded guilty Monday morning to killing 47-year-old Mercedes resident Christina Bruno and leaving three children in critical condition after a hit-and-run crash that occurred in 2018.
Ignacio Navarro Jr., 43, who has a rap sheet of DWIs dating back more than 20 years, pleaded guilty to one count of intoxication manslaughter with a motor vehicle and three counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury.
Navarro was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the intoxication manslaughter charge and 10 years for the intoxication assault charges which will run concurrently with credit for time served.
“I was 23 when it happened, my family fell apart completely,” Bruno’s daughter, Sabrina, said during the victim impact statement. “My kids still need their grandma. They don’t have a grandma. They look for her everywhere. It hurts.
“I feel like five years’ credit is not fair because I cannot get my mom replaced. Nothing will replace her.”
On May 10, 2018, at around 3 p.m., Navarro slammed a large carrier truck into the rear of a SUV driven by Bruno while her daughter and three grandchildren were inside the vehicle.
The crash occurred near the intersection of Texas Avenue and West Frontage Road in Mercedes.
Bruno was pronounced dead at the scene while her daughter and her children were transported to Knapp Medical Hospital and then later transferred to Valley Baptist Medical Center.
All three children were in critical condition.
Sabrina spoke of her children during her statement.
“My son is five. He had two fractures in his brain,” Sabrina said through tears. “He cannot play sports, he can’t do what normal kids do. My oldest daughter, she tries, she was ejected from the vehicle. She still has pains. She’s turning 13 and it’s something we have to live with forever.”
Sabrina went on to say that the sentence given to Navarro isn’t enough saying that jail time won’t fix her family.
She added that being sent to prison won’t fix the issue due to Navarro being a repeat offender.
“He had DWIs already in his record,” Sabrina said. “…five years credit, be in prison for four years, parole out, do the same thing to another family. It’s not fair.”
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped three of the charges against Navarro which included accident involving death, accident involving serious bodily injury and murder.
