A suspected illegal immigrant from Mexico was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for the deaths of a Marine corporal and his date in a car crash on Thanksgiving 2006.
Eduardo Morales-Soriano, 26, of Laurel, pleaded guilty to two counts of auto manslaughter for the deaths of Marine Cpl. Brian Mathews, 21, of Columbia, who was home from serving in Iraq, and Jennifer Bower, 24, of Montgomery Village.
Judge Louis Becker imposed a sentence of 10 years followed by an additional 10 years suspended and five years of probation.
“To hear the second 10-year sentence was suspended, I was a little taken aback,” said Mathews’ father, William Mathews.
“But none of my family has ever been interested in vengeance; I feel a great deal of compassion for the defendant, he’s human just like all of us.”
Morales-Soriano hit the back of Bower’s Toyota, which was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Routes 175 and 108 in Columbia, prosecutors said.
Becker said he considered Morales-Soriano’s immigration status and his .32 blood alcohol content — four times the legal limit — when imposing a sentence that exceeds state guidelines of three months to four years for each count.
Defense attorney Brad Goldbloom said the case was “portrayed as the illegal immigrant versus the American hero and his girlfriend,” and asked Becker not to factor Morales-Soriano’s immigration status into the sentencing.
Prosecutors had reached a plea agreement with Morales-Soriano in which he would serve eight years, but Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman rejected the deal in January.
“This really shows the inadequacies of the system providing justice,” said Howard State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino.
“You can’t resurrect somebody, that would be justice, but you can’t.”
