Truck driver sentenced to 11 years for killing family of five on I25
Published on June 21, 2024
GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) – A Weld County judge sentenced a truck driver to more than a decade in prison Friday afternoon for causing a deadly crash that killed a family of five on Interstate 25 in 2022.
Jesus Puebla, 28, was sentenced to 11 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, after a jury convicted him in April of all charges related to the deadly crash.
A jury convicted the defendant of five counts of vehicular homicide, and one count each of vehicular assault, careless driving and reckless driving.
In addition, the jury also convicted Puebla of a commercial vehicle safety violation, and also found him guilty of not having a commercial driver’s license.
The crash happened on June 13, 2022, on I-25 near Highway 66 in Weld County. The defendant was driving a box truck when he slammed into a vehicle, killing a family of five who was travelling back home to Wyoming.
“Five amazing lives were taken on June 13th that changed everyone’s life that day,” the victims’ daughter said. “My mom and dad were the best parents any child could wish for. I’ll never get another day with them. I wish there was an opportunity that Heaven could have visiting hours because I miss them every day.”
The defendant also crashed into another vehicle, severely injuring the driver.
“These families have had to deal with the trauma and this devastating loss every single day,” Deputy District Attorney Yvette Guthrie said. “Absolutely nothing that this defendant did the day of this tragic crash was an accident. This wasn’t road rage; this was traffic terrorism.”
Deputy District Attorneys Yvette Guthrie and Erin Vargas Gutierrez prosecuted this case.