A 49-year-old man was convicted of vehicular homicide in Adams County District Court on Thursday for a 2020 drunken-driving crash that killed two people, including a Commerce City police detective.
Fructuoso Rosales-Cano was found guilty of two counts of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence and two counts of driving under the influence with two or more prior convictions, the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Rosales-Cano was speeding in his Ford F-350 and passing slower cars on Colorado 2 near Turnberry Parkway on Oct. 16, 2020, when he over-corrected and swerved into oncoming traffic.
He crashed into the driver’s side door of a Ford Explorer driven by Detective Curt Holland, 37, who was on duty. The truck then spun and tipped over, crushing a Kia Soul driven by 31-year-old Francesca Dominguez.
Holland and Dominguez died instantly, according to the district attorney’s office. Rosales-Cano sustained life-threatening injuries.
Detectives found empty beer cans and small liquor bottles in Rosales-Cano’s truck and his blood alcohol level was .294, more than three times the legal limit. He had previous DUI convictions in 1997 and 2006.
“The damage caused by this defendant is truly unfathomable,” District Attorney Brian Mason said in a statement. “Because of one man’s indefensible decision to drink and drive, two innocent victims are dead and countless lives are shattered.”
The jury deliberated for about an hour before delivering the guilty verdict, Commerce City Police Department officials said in a post on Facebook.
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“While this verdict cannot undo the past and bring back two individuals who were taken out of this world too soon, I hope it gives their loved ones and friends the closure that has been so evasive over the last four years,” Police Chief Darrel Guadnola said in a statement.
Rosales-Cano is set to be sentenced on Jan. 9.
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