A 33-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 20 years to life in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a man standing by his disabled car on a freeway in Irvine.
Rene Avila Montesdeoca pleaded guilty Oct. 9 to second-degree murder in the March 18, 2018 crash that killed 36-year-old Eli Eipper. The victim died April 7, 2018.
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The victim’s father, Kirk Eipper, said in a victim impact statement read aloud in court by Deputy District Attorney Brian Orue that he was a survivor of one of the towers razed by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City and that the heartbreak from losing his son has worsened his post- traumatic stress disorder.
“Eli was an incredible man in his prime,” Kirk Eipper said.
To the defendant, he said, “You are a serial drunk driver with zero impulse control. You robbed me of my child, you robbed me of ever being a grandfather. … You are a menace to society.”