On Tuesday, 19-year-old Olvin Carcamo-Meza pleaded guilty in Arapahoe County court after accepting a deal that resolves criminal counts tied to a high-speed July crash in Aurora that killed two people. The plea sends the case to a June 1 sentencing hearing and wipes a jury trial off the summer court calendar.
Under the agreement, Carcamo-Meza admitted to two counts of first-degree assault and to two violent-crime sentence enhancers, while prosecutors dismissed three felony counts, including two counts of vehicular homicide and a charge of child abuse resulting in death, according to The Denver Post. Court filings cited by the paper say the Audi he was driving averaged about 121 mph before impact. The outlet also reports the pleas were entered on April 14 and that the jury trial set for late July was vacated when he accepted the deal.
How Investigators Say the Crash Happened
Authorities say the crash happened shortly after 2:45 a.m. on a July Sunday when an Audi ran a red light at South Airport Boulevard and East Alameda Parkway and slammed into a westbound Hyundai. The 37-year-old driver of the Hyundai and her 15-year-old passenger were pronounced dead at the scene, as reported by CBS Colorado. Coverage from KKTV details the emergency response timeline and notes that two other people were injured in the three-vehicle collision. Police initially said speed was a factor in the crash, and an arrest followed after the Audi’s driver was released from the hospital.
The Plea’s Legal Contours
The full back-and-forth of plea talks typically stays behind closed doors, but the outcome in this case replaces felony homicide counts with assault pleas and attaches violent-crime enhancers, a combination that reshapes what the judge will weigh at sentencing, per The Denver Post. The enhancements can add years to a prison term if the judge applies them, while the dismissed counts will not be part of the formal sentencing calculation beyond what is reflected in the plea agreement and any read-ins the prosecution may ask to have noted on the record…