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| From left to right: Audie Trinidad and his daughters Danna, Kaitlyn, Melissa, Allison. |
A judge on Friday (Nov. 1) sentenced a Maryland man blamed for a crash that killed a New Jersey father and his four daughters to probation, reports NBC Philadelphia.
Audie Trinidad, 61 and his daughters, Kaitlyn, 20, Danna, 17, and twins Allison and Melissa, 13, all died in the crash. The mother, Rose Ballocanag, suffered injuries serious enough to end her career as a nurse.
Judge Calvin L. Scott Jr. initially sentenced Alvin Hubbard III, 46, to the maximum 14 years in prison, but quickly suspended that to one year probation over the objections of the mother, according to Delaware Online.
Hubbard pleaded guilty in June to five misdemeanor counts of operating a motor vehicle causing death and two misdemeanor counts of vehicular assault. His initial charges included five counts of second-degree vehicular homicide.
Police say Hubbard’s truck swerved across the median in July 2018 and slammed into a Trinidad’s minivan. His lawyer had argued that respiratory problems that caused him to crash, something Ballocanag doubted.
Delaware Online reports Hubbard broke out crying several times during the trial, but declined a chance to speak. Defense attorneys said Hubbard, a divorced father of two teens, was “already in a prison of his own sorrow” and read aloud an apology letter he wrote to Ballocanag.
“I don’t care about the letter," said Ballocanag. "It’s not going to bring my family back.”
She says her entire family was taken from her. She’s had eight surgeries herself, and will never be able to work as a nurse again.
Diane Lucianna, the attorney representing the Trinidad family, said Ballocanag had considered suing the state, "but it's right in Delaware statute, you can't sue for guardrails or lack of."
She said that the insurance company for Aledak Metalworks had reached a confidential settlement with Ballocanag.
"It's the end of the road legally for this case," Lucianna said.
She said that the insurance company for Aledak Metalworks had reached a confidential settlement with Ballocanag.
"It's the end of the road legally for this case," Lucianna said.
At the sentencing, Ballocanang tearfully testified, “His one life will never be enough for the five people he killed.
“I want you to look at their faces,” she said to Hubbard. “So when you look at your children, you will see the pieces of my children and my husband.”
“I want you to look at their faces,” she said to Hubbard. “So when you look at your children, you will see the pieces of my children and my husband.”
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