Raul Benitez-Santana, the man convicted of hitting and killing Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd in 2024, has been sentenced to more than ten years in prison, as reported by FOX 13 Seattle. A jury previously found Benitez-Santana guilty of vehicular assault and vehicular homicide.
During his trial, it was argued by prosecutors that Benitez-Santana was under the influence of drugs, and alcohol to the extent that he mistook the shoulder of the road for a lane when he struck the trooper. The case gained traction, particularly among right-wing media, when it was revealed that "Benitez Santana is in the U.S. illegally and his attorneys attempted to get the charges dismissed because prosecutors communicated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in violation of state law", The Seattle Times reports.
Benitez-Santana's defense attorney Emily Hancock shared with the court, that her client arrived in the United States as an infant and had since been a part of the community, growing up in Burien and later working in his family's auto body shop. According to The Seattle Times, Hancock said, "He grew up in Burien, worked in his family’s auto body shop and moved to Everett shortly before the fatal crash."
The history of Benitez-Santana's interactions with the law further complicates the narrative. He was under a deferred prosecution agreement which mandated that he not commit new crimes after an August 2017 arrest for assaulting his girlfriend, a detail that was obtained from court records by KOMO News. The previous incident led to a sentence of two years of probation and mandated behavioral therapy treatment after his girlfriend's nose was broken during the assault.
.jpg){kind=link}