Albuquerque woman gets long prison term for fatal DWI crash

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Albuquerque woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection with a fatal car crash in June 2020.

A New Mexico district judge on Tuesday sentenced 42-year-old Bernadette Etsitty, who pleaded guilty in April on a charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol.

Prosecutors said Etsitty had consumed a 12-pack of beer and was driving 66 mph in a 40 mph zone at the time of the head-on crash that killed 18-year-old Roxana Saenz.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, court records show Etsitty has been charged three times for driving while intoxicated including two offenses in 2006.

The newspaper also reported that a third-offense DWI in 2018 for Etsitty was dismissed by a McKinley County magistrate judge in 2019.