An illegal alien from Mexico, deported 16 times from the United States, has been sentenced to just one year in prison for causing a crash that killed 64-year-old Scott Miller in Conifer, Colorado.
In June, 47-year-old Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza was arrested for vehicular homicide concerning the crash that killed Miller but the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office filed only misdemeanor traffic violation charges against the illegal alien.
Before prosecutors could file felony charges against him, Cruz-Mendoza pled guilty the following month to the traffic violations — making him eligible for just a one-year prison sentence for killing Miller.
“I’m mad because the most this man could get is a year for murdering my husband because the DA refused to charge him with more charges,” Deann Miller told local media.
According to the Colorado State Patrol, Cruz-Mendoza was driving a semi truck for the Indio, California-based Monique Trucking company on Highway 285 near Conifer when the vehicle veered off the road, causing the pipe and angle iron he was carrying to spill on top of five vehicles in his path.
In one of those vehicles was Miller, who was killed at the scene. Another driver in a separate vehicle suffered serious injuries as a result.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials confirmed that Cruz-Mendoza is an illegal alien who has been deported from the U.S. to Mexico a total of 16 times over the last two decades.
Cruz-Mendoza was first deported in May 2002 after he was arrested on local charges in Oregon the month before. Since then, he has been deported and has repeatedly returned to the U.S., likely through the nation’s porous southern border.
ICE officials have placed a detainer on Cruz-Mendoza, requesting custody of him when he is released from prison in Jefferson County.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
