Driver in fatal hit-and-run pleads guilty to reduced charge, sentenced to prison
The driver of an SUV that struck and killed a pedestrian last year was sentenced to six years in the Colorado Department of Corrections last week.
Geyler Najera, 30, was given credit for 303 days by the Arapahoe County District Court judge presiding over the case, removing almost a year from the sentence.
The credit was for time already served behind bars. Najera has been jailed ever since the incident on September 25.
On that date, first responders were sent to East Colfax Avenue near the intersection of Peoria Street at 2:25 a.m. for reports of a man struck by a vehicle. They found 50-year-old Abel Antonio Alegria Martinez lying in the roadway. Martinez was taken to a nearby hospital but passed away.
Investigators were able to determine that a 2009 Honda Pilot travelling eastbound on Colfax struck Martinez just west of the Peoria intersection.
"The driver of the Pilot did not immediately stop, nor render aid, and left the scene," the Aurora Police Department stated in a press release.
However, officers found the suspected Honda Pilot being driven near the scene a short time after the accident. Najera was behind the wheel. He was arrested on vehicular homicide the leaving the scene charges. Those charges were amended four days later to include driving under the influence.
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In May, Najera reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. The judge in the case accepted a guilty plea for Leaving the Scene of an Accident Involving Death, a Class 3 felony.
Najera was sentenced Monday.