In July 2001, Sonja DeVries found out that a close friend had been killed in a car accident in the mountains.
That day reminded her, she wrote in a scholarship application, how important it was to enjoy the time she spends with her friends and family, “along with expressing my love and gratitude to those for whom I care.’
Little did her family and friends know that, three years later, DeVries would be killed by a drunken driver as she waited one Sunday evening at a red light at East Alameda Avenue and South Holly Street.
On Thursday, after deliberating less than half an hour, a Denver jury found Ramon David Romero, a man with a history of drinking and driving, guilty of vehicular homicide in the death of 19-year-old DeVries.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Adrienne Greene told the jury that at 7:40 p.m. on July 18, 2004, Romero sped around a corner in his pickup at 40 to 50 mph and slammed into the back of DeVries’ car.
He was so drunk, Greene said, that he couldn’t find the brakes.
“Sonja DeVries is dead today because the defendant … chose to drink,’ Greene said. “He careened around the corner … never stopping at the stop sign. There is not a mark, a skid, nothing.’
Romero’s blood-alcohol level was 0.212 percent, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The impact was so severe that it set off a chain reaction involving five cars.
Romero, 56, was found guilty of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence; vehicular homicide with reckless driving; driving under the influence; and driving under the influence “per se’ with excessive alcohol content.
Just moments before the verdict, Romero handed his attorney some of his personal belongings.
Greene told Denver District Judge Michael Martinez that because of Romero’s six prior alcohol offenses, she was going to seek an aggravated sentence at Romero’s June 7 sentencing.
Romero, who showed no emotion as the verdict was read, left the packed courtroom handcuffed. “I love you,’ he said softly to family members.
DeVries was the only child of Van and Carolyn DeVries. Van DeVries is the building engineer at Belleview Elementary in the Cherry Creek School District. A contingent of Belleview parents attended the trial, and the family is working to strengthen Colorado’s drunken-driving laws.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
