Man gets 7 to 20 years in fatal crash

Kim Smith

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000 | 10:42 a.m.

Mary Thompson, District Judge Joseph Bonaventure was told, was a wise woman who loved her large, extended family, was quick to laugh and who would do anything for anybody.

"She would even help that loser if he needed help," Kim Jenkins Hines said of John Sandoval, the 23-year-old man who confessed he killed Thompson in a car accident in August.

Hines, Thompson's daughter, was one of six people who told Bonaventure on Wednesday about the devastation caused by Sandoval.

After hearing their often-emotional testimony, Bonaventure sentenced Sandoval to seven to 20 years in prison.

According to Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker, a police officer recognized Sandoval from an earlier arrest and began to follow him, suspecting he had warrants out for his arrest.

When Sandoval began driving erratically, the officer tried to pull him over, Booker said. Sandoval refused to stop, however, and sped off.

Booker said the officer pursued Sandoval for about "14 seconds" but stopped when he became concerned that it was too dangerous. Sandoval kept going and ran a stop sign at 14th Street and Stewart Avenue, striking Thompson's 1994 Ford Explorer.

Sandoval left the scene of the accident, but was arrested a short time later.

Booker said Sandoval pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving in November. The seven- to-20-year sentence was part of the plea agreement.

According to those who testified Wednesday, Thompson, 53, was one of 11 siblings who grew up to raise four children and a multitude of foster children, sometimes working two or three jobs to do so.

She was a nurse for 30 years and at the time of her death she worked as a nursing administrator for the Nevada Department of Prisons.

Karen Thompson Farmer, another of Thompson's daughters, said that "for anyone to think that a sentence unlike my mother's is appropriate" is wrong.

Her 1-year-old daughter will never know her grandmother, Farmer said.

"And not because she had cancer, but because someone didn't put their foot on the brake," Farmer said.

People tell her all the time that her mother's in a better place, but she just doesn't believe it, Farmer said.

"How on earth can being buried with dirt on your face be a better place?" Farmer asked, sobbing.

Sandoval started to tell Bonaventure how sorry he was, but was interrupted by Thompson's family who demanded he look at them. He then looked into the packed courtroom and said he hoped they would someday be able to forgive him.