Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Article Image Alt Text
Article Image Alt Text

Elliott to serve sentences consecutively

DEADLY CRASH

District Judge Jack Robison has decided that Shana Lee Elliott, who was found guilty in a fatality drunk driving crash, will serve 14 years in prison. In March, a jury sentenced Elliott to seven years in prison for each of two charges of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and 10 years of probation for a charge of intoxication assault with a vehicle. Robison decided that Elliott’s probation will run concurrent with her jail time, and if Elliott is released from prison before her probation period expires, she will have to return to jail once a year on the anniversary of the offense.

Elliott pleaded guilty to the charges stemming from an Aug. 2, 2016, car wreck that killed 23-yearold Fabian Guerrero-Moreno, who was a passenger in the Toyota Corolla driven by his 24-year-old wife Kristian Nicole Guerrero, who was five months pregnant and severely injured. The Guerreros’ unborn child died hours after the crash.

Assistant District Attorney Michael McCarthy told Robison the state believed the two prison sentences should run consecutively, rather than concurrently, because “the nature of the offense is so horrific.”

McCarthy mentioned that Kristian Guerrero had to carry her dead child for four days before doctors could induce labor he told the judge, “That by itself deserves for the sentences to run consecutively.”

Defense attorney Daniel Wannamaker asked Robison to consider allowing Elliott to serve the two sentences concurrently.

“Ms. Elliott has shown remorse,” he said.

Robison decided to stack the sevenyear sentences and told Elliott, “Once you’re out and on probation, I think every year on Aug. 1, you should turn yourself in to the Hays County Jail and stay there from 6 p.m. on Aug. 1 to 6 p.m. on Aug. 3.”

District Attorney Wes Mau’s office explained how Elliott will serve probation while in jail. She will be eligible for parole on the first count of intoxication manslaughter after three and a half years, minus the nearly two years she has already spent in jail. If she makes parole on that count, she will begin serving time on the second count of intoxication manslaughter. She will be eligible for parole after serving three and a half years of that sentence. If she does not violate the terms of the probation while in prison, upon her release she will be on probation for whatever portion of 10 years remains. If she is in prison for more than 10 years, she will be discharged from probation before her release.

The days of testimony leading up to Elliott’s sentencing in March were filled with palpable tension and grief. Kristian Guerrero’s testimony had the courtroom in tears at one point as she talked about the loss of her husband and child.

“I’ll never be the same,” she said. “Never. … My heart will always be broken, I will always love him and our son, and I will always want them back, and this will always hurt.”

Elliott’s testimony was also tearful.

“To the victim, I’m sorry from the deepest of my heart,” she said. “I know an apology doesn’t do much, but I pray for forgiveness everyday. … To the jury, I hope you can find it in your heart, whatever is fair for y’all … I accept responsibility and know what I did was wrong.”

The day the jury reached its decision, Kristian read a statement to Elliott in court.

“The least you can do is sit in jail,” she said, “not just so you can learn from what you’ve done, but so that no other family has to know you like I know you. I believe you are a danger to yourself and those around you...You’re a monster. And you are not sorry for what you’ve done, you’re sorry because it landed you here. You’re sorry because you got caught.”

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666