AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — A drunk driver who killed two people and fled the scene was sentenced last week to 18 years in prison.
Cameron Micheal Smith, of Aurora, crashed into 23-year-old Amber Hamblin and 25-year-old Ja’Rel Woods on October 27, 2019.
Hamblin and Woods were driving through the intersection of I-225 and Mississippi Avenue in Aurora when Smith T-boned Hamblin’s SUV.
Hamblin died of her injuries and Woods received spinal fractures, a broken pelvis, a bruised lung and other injuries. Woods died of his injuries a week later.
Smith fled after the crash but left his wallet at the scene. He was soon arrested at a nearby gas station, where he was trying to get a ride.
“It pains me to see yet another case where a defendant is drunk and yet makes the decision to get behind the wheel, with fatal consequences,” District Attorney John Kellner stated in a press release. “And here, the drunk driver killed two people, looked at what he had done and ran off without offering help or calling for assistance. Absolutely this defendant deserves to be in prison for his actions.”
Smith has previous convictions for driving while ability impaired and reckless driving and was wanted for failure to appear in court on a traffic offense.
On February 22, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide DUI, as well as one count of first-degree assault extreme indifference. Both are Class 3 felonies.
Hamblin’s mother and father addressed the court:
“This defendant has hurt so many families – not only mine and Ja’Rel’s, but also his own … To know that he was able to go up to the car, and instead of choosing to help the people that he hit, he ran and hid. It is so callous and uncaring I can barely fathom the thought. In those moments, his help might have helped save a life, but we will never know.”
Hamblin’s father
“It makes me very upset that someone can kill two people and not have to serve time.… I can’t believe we have a court system that can give more time to someone who writes bad checks than someone who kills two people while breaking the law,” Hamblin’s mother said in asking the judge to impose the prison sentence stipulated in the plea agreement.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Casey Brown and Senior Deputy District Attorney Megan Brewer.