Eluding driver found guilty of murder

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Two mothers said Monday's guilty verdict against the driver who killed their sons in a 2006 crash may finally bring some measure of closure.

"It's not going to bring them back, but I feel good," said Sally Mendoza Treviño, whose 19-year-old son, Edgar, died when Blake Young -- high on meth -- slammed into his car while running a red light trying to flee police. "The jury, they did do justice."

After hearing a week's worth of testimony, a Yakima County Superior Court jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Young guilty on two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Mendoza Treviño and Guillermo "Bobby" Aguilar, 19. They also found him guilty of vehicular assault in the injury of a third teenager in the crash and second-degree theft of the car he was driving.

"I wasn't even watching the clock," said one juror, James Statler, after the courtroom was dismissed. "We thought out every point brought up by the defense attorney and the state ... Walking in there I wasn't sure what we were going to do."

Young faces from 32 to 49 years in prison and probably will be sentenced in about 30 days, prosecutors said.

The verdict came early Monday afternoon after jurors listened to closing arguments and watched for a second time footage of the police chase and crash.

"This has not been an easy case," began county Deputy Prosecutor Therese Murphy, in a set of closing arguments marked by her sometimes-breaking voice. "This has been a very emotional case."

The courtroom -- packed with family and friends of both the victims and defendant, as well as curious court employees, including county Prosecutor Jim Hagarty -- was quieter and more solemn than a week ago, when Murphy first showed the footage. The first time it was shown, many relatives cried out loudly. This time, several family members of the victims and the defendant left the room.

"It was very painful to see those videos," said Mendoza Treviño, who said she'd barely slept because of nightmares the previous night and was afraid she'd faint in court. "It also gave me a little bit of healing, closure, I guess that's what it was. I feel happy."

Footage from the chase shows Young, who hit speeds up to 70 mph in a car he'd stolen earlier that day, driving into oncoming traffic, narrowly avoiding a spike strip, then running a red light at Nob Hill Boulevard and 48th Avenue. That's where he slammed into the teenagers' car.

"The question is: Was he driving in a reckless manner? It's not very often I have evidence like I have in this case. The entire crime is on video," said Murphy, who declined to comment after the verdict.

During his closing arguments, defense attorney James Dixon talked about how a 48-hour meth run had kept Young from being aware of the risk he took by eluding police.

Young wasn't allowed to plead to a lesser charge in the case, which prompted changes last year in state law that stiffened sentencing for attempting to elude police.

"The state has frankly made it difficult for you because you don't have any alternatives," Dixon told the jury Monday morning. "You are being told you have to find Blake guilty of murder, or let him go."

Dixon declined to comment after the verdict.

Ana Lucas-García, mother of Bobby Aguilar, said she felt sympathy for Young's family but was thankful for the guilty verdict.

"He knew when the cop was coming after him," she said. "He made a choice. He chose to run from police. He made the wrong choice.

"I actually feel sorry for him that he's going to spend so many years in jail, but my son -- I'm never going to see him again."

* Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.