A Michigan woman tearfully called her reality a “nightmare” and begged for forgiveness before she was sentenced to five years behind bars for driving her SUV last year into an ice-covered pond, killing her three young sons.
Leticia Marie Gonzales was impaired by methadone while driving her 2004 Chevy Tahoe with her sons Jerome III, 4, Jeremiah, 3, and Josiah, 1, about 11a.m. Feb. 17, 2022, when the vehicle crashed into the pond.
She escaped with minor injuries, but her boys – who were strapped into child-restraint seats – were trapped in the water for 10 to 17 minutes and drowned, USA Today reported.
Jerome and Jeremiah were pronounced dead at the scene while Josiah died at a hospital several hours later.
On Monday, an Ottawa County judge sentenced Gonzales to a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years after she told the court she’s been living with survivor’s guilt since the accident, WOOD-TV reported.
“Being their mom was all I ever wanted. Each day I try coming to terms with my reality, but my reality is just a nightmare… I often find myself asking God why because the hurt is indescribable,” she told Circuit Court Judge Jon Hulsing, tearfully.
“I love them so much. I love you boys to the moon and back and with everything I have inside of me,” Gonzales said.
“If I could give my life and change places, I swear I would. Life without them will never be the same, your honor. I lost everything I ever needed and I hate myself so much,” she continued.
“I’ve been sentenced to life without them for the rest of my life, so I’m asking for forgiveness… Yet, here I am standing before you still asking for mercy. I’m willing to take the responsibility as their mother, as a mother should,” Gonzales said.
“But I would like my boys to know that I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. And I hope they can forgive me and I hope the community and you can forgive me, your honor. But I will always love my boys with all of my heart,” she added.
The judge noted her repeated drug use.
“This is not a one-time situation that you succumbed to pressures, and desires to use drugs. Rather, this seems to be a pattern and, unfortunately, your children paid the ultimate price for that,” Hulsing told her.
On the day of the accident, Gonzales took a prescribed dose of methadone — a pain medication also used to treat an opioid use disorder — and later took an unprescribed dose a few hours before the crash.
In April, she pleaded no contest to one count of operating while intoxicated causing death – an agreement that dropped two counts of the same charge — and prosecutors recommended one year in the slammer.
Gonzales withdrew the plea after the judge said he would not accept it and instead would impose a sentence of four to 15 years with credit for 41 days served.
On Aug. 28, she again pleaded no contest, this time to one count of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury, and three misdemeanor counts of a moving violation causing death.