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Repeat Drunk Driver Sentenced In Deadly Hit & Run

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- A judge sentenced a repeat drunk driver to prison for his role in a deadly hit-and-run in Lakewood. Jonathan Cordova was drunk when he hit a pedestrian last year in his sixth DUI.

Cordova, 53, pleaded guilty in July to vehicular homicide, hit-and-run causing death, and DUI: fourth or more, in the deadly crash in Lakewood in December 2015.

Hit & Run
(credit: CBS)

Investigators say Cordova ran down and killed a female pedestrian on Colfax Avenue near Wadsworth Boulevard and then kept driving. The victim, Ernestine Maynes, 45, was killed.

Maynes also was related to Cordova. Her daughter said she forgives Cordova and would have rather seen him receive mandatory treatment for alcohol than jail time.

jonathan cordova
Jonathan Cordova (credit: Jefferson County)

"My mom wouldn't have wanted that. My mom was a very forgiving person," said Erica Maynes. "They're going to lose their dad. I already lost my mom. Losing their dad, what is that going to do? It's not going to bring my mom back."

Police say a Good Samaritan helped police track down Cordova.

The judge told Cordove he was a "danger to society" and sentenced him to 22 years in prison on Monday.

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