BOULDER — Gabe Nielsen’s last choice was to do all he could to save his 2-year-old daughter and his sister as a drunken driver in a Ford pickup crossed the center line on Nelson Road on June 25.
Boulder County prosecutor Ryan Brackley painted a picture Friday of those last moments as he sought the maximum sentence for the driver who struck Nielsen’s car, Lisa Norton, 33.
After hearing from attorneys as well as relatives and friends of Nielsen and Norton, District Judge DD Mallard sentenced Norton to 33 years in prison, followed by five years of parole.
Norton pleaded guilty in March to vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence. Under the deal, prosecutors dismissed a first-degree murder charge, which is rare in a vehicular-homicide case, and agreed that she would face between 20 and 36 years in prison.
Standing at a lectern wearing jail scrubs, Norton said, “I am dearly sorry and I beg everyone’s forgiveness.” She was two days into probation on another alcohol-related conviction at the time of the crash. The terms of that probation included abstaining from alcohol use.
