A northern California woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a drug-related driving incident that killed a man in Fresno County.
The backstory: Amber Nicole Sexton – 36 years old from Hayfork – was driving a U-Haul pickup truck southbound on Highway 41 near Harlan Avenue on Nov. 10, 2020.
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- She crossed into oncoming traffic and caused a four-vehicle crash.
- Joel “Joey” Carrillo Jr., 23, was driving the car that Sexton crashed into head-on.
- He was driving home from preparing to become an MRI technician and was transported by helicopter and pronounced deceased at the hospital.
- Sexton demonstrated signs of being impaired at the scene when contacted by California Highway Patrol officers.
- The toxicology report revealed that Sexton had heroin and approximately four times the potentially toxic amount of methamphetamine in her system several hours after the crash.
The big picture: Sexton will spend 10 years in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, resulting in Carrillo’s death.
- At the trial she admitted to having injected heroin and smoked methamphetamine the morning of the crash, but she claimed that her habitual use of both gave her a tolerance to safely drive.
- Sexton also claimed that the crash was caused by a vehicle malfunction.
- The jury rejected Sexton’s version of events, finding that she knowingly lied during her sworn testimony and that she represented a danger to society.
