A drunken driver who crashed into and killed a woman while driving the wrong way on Interstate 70 in Jefferson County last year, sending her toddler to the hospital, was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison, court records show.
Jian Bin Chen, 35, pleaded guilty the night before his scheduled jury trial to vehicular homicide by DUI, vehicular homicide by reckless driving, reckless endangerment, DUI, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of a divided highway, careless driving resulting in injury and driving with expired license plates, First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Director of Public Affairs Brionna Boatright said in an email to The Denver Post.
Chen’s trial was scheduled to begin on April 2, according to Jefferson County court records.
The man was sentenced Friday to 12 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the first vehicular homicide charge and 6 years for the second, both felonies, court records show. Those sentences will run concurrently, Boatright said.
Chen’s sentences on the misdemeanor and traffic charges included more than two years in the county jail, $1,200 in fines and $22,500 in “victim compensation,” according to court records. All jail time will run concurrently with his prison sentence.
“This was an aggravated case with a devastating outcome,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Ali Brady, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “Jodi Weber, a young mother going about her morning routine with her toddler secured in the backseat, was killed because the defendant chose to drive under the influence of alcohol. Impaired driving is not an accident; it is a choice with irreversible consequences.”
“We are grateful to the Wheat Ridge Police Department for the thorough investigation that led to a guilty plea on all counts,” Brady’s statement continued. “Our office fought for the maximum 12-year sentence under Colorado law to ensure full accountability and secure the justice Jodi’s loved ones and our community deserve.”
Chen was driving west on eastbound I-70 in the early morning hours of March 13, 2025, when he crashed into Weber’s car. Weber died on scene and paramedics took her toddler to the hospital, Wheat Ridge police said.
Weber’s mother, Linda Thomas, said during the Friday morning hearing that Chen’s 12-year sentence felt like a “slap on the hand for taking my daughter’s life,” . The law should be much stronger for DUI homicide, she told the station.
