This week, a Missouri woman who was involved in the Capitol riot on January 6 and who President Donald Trump subsequently pardoned was given a 10-year term for killing a mother of two in a drunk driving accident.
After the Trump supporters’ mob stormed the Capitol in 2021, Emily Hernandez was spotted carrying the damaged nameplate of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was released after 30 days in federal prison.
According to court documents, she was given a 10-year prison sentence on Wednesday in Missouri state court for her role in a drunk driving accident in 2022 that claimed Victoria Wilson’s life and gravely injured her husband, Ryan Wilson.
Tonie Donaldson, the mother of Victoria Wilson, told reporters outside the court that nothing would ever bring her back. There is an unfilled void in my heart that will never go away.
Hernandez, 24, entered a guilty plea on November 5 to two counts of driving under the influence (DWI) resulting in a fatality and a serious injury.
On January 5, 2022, Hernandez was driving in the wrong direction on a Missouri freeway when she collided with Victoria and Ryan Wilson, who were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, according to KDSK, an NBC station in St. Louis.
32-year-old Victoria Wilson passed away from her wounds. According to court records, Ryan Wilson was injured and sustained a debilitating injury to his right foot.
Records indicate that Hernandez’s blood alcohol concentration was.125.
In a sentencing memo, Hernandez’s defense lawyers sought for a term of 120 days, or roughly four months, stating that Hernandez admitted to killing someone and expressed regret for her acts.
Emily’s lawyers noted that regret, loss, misery, and shame will always be a part of her emotional makeup.
The Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a voicemail left Thursday night requesting comment.
On January 20, the first day of his second term as president, Trump granted pardons or commutations to all those found guilty of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in which a crowd attacked police officers and looted the building.
Hernandez was not charged with assaulting any officers on January 6.She was sentenced to 30 days and a year of supervised release after entering and remaining in a restricted structure or grounds, a misdemeanor, in January 2022.
Although 14 convicted individuals, including Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right organization Oath Keepers, had their sentences commuted, almost all of the estimated 1,500 individuals received unconditional pardons.