Woman upset by light sentence in brother’s Lafayette drunken driving death

The sister of a man killed in a Lafayette drunken driving crash feels the driver’s vehicular homicide sentence was too lenient. On Dec.

13, Elton Charles, 61, was sentenced to seven years, with all but three years suspended, after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of 46-year-old Jesus Carrion. Those three years will be spent on home incarceration with leave for work, doctor’s appointments, church and legal appointments, coupled with a £2,000 fine and restitution to Carrion’s family for funeral costs and travel costs for family who attended the sentencing.

He’ll also serve five years of probation once his sentence is completed. Vehicular homicide carries a sentence between five and 30 years, with at least three years without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, and a fine between £2,000 and £15,000. The fatal crash happened on Jan.

28, 2021 in the 1200 block of Surrey Street around 9:50 p.m. Lafayette Police Department officers responded to the scene and determined that Carrion was attempting to reattach a utility trailer to his truck after it came loose. Charles struck the back of the trailer, which crushed Carrion between the trailer and his truck, the department said afterward.

Charles’ attorney, Kevin Stockstill, wrote in a pre-sentencing memorandum that Charles went out with friends the night of the crash and a post-crash breathalyzer recorded his blood alcohol content as .131 . The legal limit for driving in Louisiana is .08 . Charles’ cell phone was dead at the time of the crash, and he called 911 from a nearby gas station.

Carrion’s body was found by police when emergency responders arrived on scene. Several of the Charles’ family members were present for the sentencing. His brother, Patrick, described him as a caring, generous and supportive person who stood beside him when his son died from an illness.

His son, Brandon, expressed sorrow for Carrion’s family while sharing his pride in his father for taking accountability by pleading guilty. Fifteenth Judicial District Court Judge Royale Colbert, who issued the sentence, said prior to reading the court’s pre-sentence investigation report on Charles that he had intended to hand down a stiffer sentence. But after seeing that Charles had a stable job, family support, no prior arrests or a history of alcohol and substance abuse, he said openly he was unsure of the most just outcome.

He said a major factor in his decision was that Charles doesn’t appear to pose an ongoing risk to public safety. “Justice in this manner is not putting him in LPCC…When we start punishing people for the sake of punishing them, that doesn’t do anyone any good,” Colbert said. Two of Carrion’s sisters, Noemi Powell and Teresita Carrion, traveled from Oklahoma to be present at Charles’ sentencing.

Both women asked during their victim impact statements for a just outcome, rather than a specific number of years in jail. They also offered forgiveness to Charles. In response to emailed questions from The Acadiana Advocate, Powell said after the sentencing that while she and her sister did not demand a specific sentence, they did not imagine a penalty so lenient.

She said Charles’ clean record should not have outweighed the loss of life. “The loss of my brother’s life has been reduced to some sort of accident and misfortunate circumstance,” Powell wrote. “Which it was not — this was all by choice. Every person that drinks and drives knows the choice they make to do so has a possible negative consequence and yet they choose to gamble on it.”

Powell remembered her brother as a joyful, humorous prankster who loved to make others laugh and smile. Carrion was the fifth of nine children and protective of his family, especially his sisters. His favorite music was Regional Mexican music, and when he’d visit Mexico, he could often be found on horseback because he loved to ride, she said.

The father of five worked in construction and roofing and was constantly traveling for work. He went where the work was available and was never idle, his sister said. Carrion was in Lafayette for work at the time of his death.

“The thing I’ll miss the most is him coming into a room with a big smile on his face, so happy to see all of his family,” she wrote. “If there was any discord among us when getting together, he would be the one to try to make the situation lighter and not as serious.” Coping with his death has been a rocky experience for his family, his sisters said. Teresita Carrion said at Charles’ sentencing that just before his death her brother called to say he’d be coming home to Oklahoma after years on the road.

Her mother, who had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, never got the chance to see her son again, she said. Teresita Carrion said today her mother questions her other children about whether Carrion is alive. Giving an answer is a dilemma: to say no would be a lie, but telling her the truth confuses and upsets her, she said.

“I just stay quiet,” Teresita Carrion said. Carrion’s death came not long after their father’s, and the deaths have wounded the family. Carrion’s youngest child, now 15, has struggled the most, they said.

The boy now lives with Carrion’s eldest sister and has developed behavioral issues. The family is at a loss for how to break through to him; counseling and other supports have not made a difference, Teresita Carrion said. “As I drove home [from the sentencing], I couldn’t help but think how this person gets to go home and sit this sentence out in the comfort of his own home with his family,” Powell wrote. “He gets to spend the holidays and celebrate family birthdays with the presence of them there.

He gets to touch, hug and kiss his family — everything he took from us.”