Michigan mother whose sons died after she crashed into pond jailed for five years

A woman from Michigan has been sentenced to up to five years in prison after she crashed into an icy pond while intoxicated, killing her three young sons.

Leticia Gonzales admitted in August to driving while intoxicated and causing serious injury, as well as to three misdemeanour charges of violation causing death.

She will have to serve at least two years in jail after telling a Michigan court she had been living with survivor’s guilt since the death of her children, according to WOOD-TV.

“I lost everything I ever needed, and I hate myself so much. I’ve been sentenced to life without them for the rest of my life, so I’m asking for forgiveness,” she said.

Police said Gonzales was driving an SUV in February 2022 when she veered off the road, jumped a kerb and and rolled into the ice-covered pond.

Her sons, Jerome III, four, three-year-old Jeremiah and Josiah, one, drowned while in their car seats.

Gonzales escaped with minor injuries.

‘Ultimate price’

Officers said she had taken methadone – a painkiller used to treat drug addiction – on the morning of the crash, which subsequently impaired her actions.

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Circuit court judge Jon Hulsing said despite Gonzales’s remorse for her sons’ deaths and her actions that led to them, this was not her first time using drugs.

He added: “This is not a one-time situation that you succumbed to pressures, and desires to use drugs.

“Rather, this seems to be a pattern and, unfortunately, your children paid the ultimate price for that.”