Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 | 2:30 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 | 3:46 p.m.
A woman was sentenced to up to 65 years in prison Wednesday in an emotional hearing in Las Vegas for a driving-under-the-influence crash in August that killed a boy and badly injured his parents.
District Judge Michelle Leavitt ordered Aylin Alderette to serve a minimum of 26 years before becoming eligible for parole. Alderette pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder and two counts of DUI.
"This year, I'm trying to get through the holidays without him," Briejet Echenique told the judge referring to her son, Levi. "He would have turned 9 years old on Saturday the 24th."
Alderette, 25, sobbed throughout the hearing, sometimes saying "I am so sorry" as the Alderette family testified.
Family members wore T-shirts that read "For the love of Levi."
Levi's brother, Joey, told Leavitt the "best present" his brother "could get is the max sentence" for Alderette.
Alderette, who also uses the name Alvarez-Perez, told police she was late for work before the Aug. 31 crash that killed Levi and injured Briejet and Jose Echenique. Vehicle computer records showed she was driving 103 mph (166 kph) in a 45 mph (72 kph) area.
Witnesses told police Alderette's Chevrolet Camaro sped through several stop lights before the three-car wreck that also injured two other people in another vehicle.
Her arrest report stated she showed "slow reflexes by only slowing down to 81 mph for a red light that had been red for approximately three seconds."
Prosecutor Eric Bauman has said Alderette had nearly five times the legal limit of marijuana in her system after the crash.
