Speeding drunk driver who killed 2 needs to get the ‘right message,’ said Tri-Cities judge

An April 2022 crash has haunted the woman whose drunk and reckless driving killed two people.

“I did show Miss Souza photographs of the scene,” attorney Nicholas Blount said during Mariana Souza’s sentencing on Wednesday. “She broke down in tears when she saw what had happened as a result of her actions.”

Souza, 29, broke down in tears again as she said she regretted her deadly decision to drive drunk and would gladly trade places with the victims if she could.

The woman pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter in connection with the deadly crash at the corner of Gage Boulevard and Steptoe Street.

Her remorse led prosecutors and defense attorneys to recommend a sentence of slightly less than eight years in prison, the minimum end of the range.

But Judge Diana Ruff disagreed with the recommendation and added seven months to her sentence, sending Souza to prison for eight and a half years. She will also need to pay $12,000 in restitution.

“No one ever intends to kill someone on their way home from the bar,” Ruff said. “Most people are like you. They’re incredibly remorseful and ashamed of what they’ve done.”

Driving drunk is easily avoided by calling for a taxi or getting an Uber, Ruff said. Instead Souza chose to drive drunk and two people died as a result.

Ruff said she needed to consider what message the sentence would send to the larger community.

“I know that you know all of that and I believe that you are very remorseful for what you did,” Ruff said. “I struggle with the fact that you were two and a half times the legal limit (for blood-alcohol) and driving at such a high rate of speed. ... I don’t feel like the bottom of the range sends the right message.”

Drunken crash

Souza had just left a bar on April 3, 2022, and was racing south on Steptoe Street so she could get home before going to work the next day.

She would later tell police she believed she was going 50 mph, but a witness believed she was driving 70 mph, as she approached the intersection at Gage Boulevard.

Souza’s minivan ran a red light and slammed into the side of a Ford Escape, killing Tressica Garza, 38, and Wayne Judd, 45.

When police arrived, Souza was slumped. Investigators said her words were slurred and and she appeared off-balance.

Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Clark said a toxicology test showed her blood-alcohol level was 0.20%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08%.

Since being arrested, Souza has cooperated with an attorney working for the families to provide details about the crash, something Clark said he hasn’t seen in his years working for the prosecutor’s office.

That cooperation led the prosecutor’s office to recommend the minimum of the sentencing range of between slightly less than eight years and 10 years in prison.

Members of Garza’s and Judd’s families said they were still devastated after losing their family members, and struggled with their loss even a year and a half later.

Judd’s 22-year-old daughter, Anastasia, said she has struggled with living along the same road where her father died.

“Nobody can prepare you enough to receive a phone call that your dad has been murdered by a drunk driver,” she said in a letter that Clark read. “The question is, ‘How did his death impact me?’ The short answer is, ‘How did it not?’”

She needed to take a three-month leave of absence because of her grief, and suffered from depression and anxiety. On top of that, Judd’s death left her with an overwhelming feeling of guilt because she got to have experiences that her younger siblings will not.

Garza’s daughter said she was the sweetest and most genuine person that she knew.

“I never would have thought my parents, my best friend, my support system would be gone because of the selfish thing you did,” she said, speaking to Souza.

Souza’s friends

Several of Souza’s friends and family spoke on her behalf, using an online service. They described her as a good woman who was very sorry for what she had done.

At the time of the crash, Souza had only lived in the United States for a month and a half after moving from Brazil. She had come to the area to earn money to send back home.

Her friends and family all spoke with the help of a Portuguese interpreter.

They asked for compassion from the judge for the woman and said that she was a good person.

Blount also said Souza was very remorseful and full of regret, and had never shied away from taking responsibility for the crash.

“Miss Souza is doing anything she can to provide some semblance of closure to the families by assisting the families’ attorneys,” Blount said.

It is unclear who the families’ are considering suing.

This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 5:01 PM.