A 38-year-old man charged with killing a Broomfield woman and her son in a drunken-driving crash was sentenced to 24 years in prison, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Jose Menjivar pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide on Sept. 19 in the deaths of Melissa Powell, 46, and her 16-year-old son Riordan Powell.
Menjivar was driving at an estimated 80 to 100 mph in a 40 mph zone, in the area of Main Street and Miramonte Boulevard near Broomfield High School, when he crashed into Melissa Powell’s SUV. Riordan Powell was a junior at the school.
Menjivar has at least five previous DUI convictions dating back to 2007 and was sentenced to one year in a jail work release program four days before the crash, He was waiting for a bed to open up in the program at the time of the crash.
Investigators found at least two empty beer cans on the floor of Menjivar’s vehicle, another beer can on the roadway and an open case of beer in the back of the vehicle with missing cans, according to the previous reporting. His blood-alcohol content was tested at .249, more than three times the legal limit of .08.
Menjivar has been deported four times — in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials lodged an immigration detainer with Broomfield County shortly after the crash.
