A Gilbert man who plowed through a red light at up to 96 mph while driving drunk has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for killing a rideshare driver and her passenger last September. Robb Hintzsche pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the crash that killed 36-year-old Nicole Snell and 33-year-old Marisa Jorgenson near Recker and Ray roads in Gilbert.
Judge Suzanne Marwil handed down the sentence, which includes credit for 267 days Hintzsche has already served, according to ABC15 Arizona. Hintzsche agreed to the plea deal in June, resolving a case that had drawn intense scrutiny over both his blood alcohol level and his speed at the moment of impact.
According to official collision records released by the Gilbert Police Department, Hintzsche ran a red light at 89 to 96 mph in a 45 mph zone, slamming into Snell's northbound Lyft on a green light and driving it into a corner traffic light pole. Snell worked as a rideshare driver and was, per ABC15, well-loved in her east valley dance community. Jorgenson, a pharmacist and avid runner, was her passenger, heading to meet friends in downtown Gilbert.
A Precaution That Wasn't Enough
Jorgenson's family told ABC15 she never drank and drove — she was in the Lyft specifically to avoid that risk. As reported by 12News, Jorgenson texted her best friend “Love you on my way” just four minutes before her mother received an automated iPhone crash notification and drove straight to the scene to find the wreckage. Jorgenson left behind two young sons, and those closest to her said what she loved most was simply being with them.
Hintzsche's blood alcohol content measured .287 at the time of the crash, more than three times Arizona's legal limit, according to ABC15's reporting. Under Arizona Revised Statute § 28-1382(A)(2), a BAC of 0.20% or higher is classified as a “Super Extreme DUI,” a threshold Hintzsche's level far exceeded, per the Law Office of James Novak. A police report cited by ABC15 also noted two open single-serve bottles of alcohol were found in his car. Snell's dog also died in the crash, and police recommended a count of animal cruelty alongside two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of endangerment.
Why Murder Charges, Not Manslaughter
Hintzsche was injured in the crash and was arrested in late November, taken into custody immediately upon his release from the hospital, according to the Gilbert Police Department. The severity of the charges traces to Arizona's second-degree murder statute, A.R.S. § 13-1104, which allows prosecutors to charge vehicular fatalities as murder when a driver's conduct shows what the law calls “extreme indifference to human life,” a Class 1 felony carrying 10 to 25 years per count without any requirement of premeditation, according to FindLaw. Hintzsche's speed, nearly double the posted limit, combined with his BAC, placed his case well beyond standard manslaughter territory.
Hoodline previously reported on Hintzsche's arrest and initial charges after his hospital discharge in November, as well as the community's response in the days following the crash.
Part of a Larger Pattern on Arizona Roads
The case lands amid a broader reckoning with impaired and reckless driving across Maricopa County. Analysis of Arizona Department of Transportation data published by Ramos Law found Maricopa County accounted for 3,544 of Arizona's 5,520 alcohol-involved crashes in 2024, more than 64% of the statewide total. The Arizona Department of Public Safety reported that alcohol-related crashes killed 347 people statewide that year, representing 28% of all traffic deaths in the state.
Locally, Gilbert recorded 12 traffic fatalities and 742 injury crashes in 2025, down from 18 fatal crashes the year before but reflecting a rise in overall injury-producing collisions, according to municipal data published by YourValley.net. Statewide, a national transportation research report from TRIP found Arizona traffic fatalities surged 62% over the decade from 2014 to 2024, giving the state one of the highest fatality rates per vehicle-miles traveled in the country. State agencies launched Arrive Alive Arizona in mid-2025, a five-year initiative aimed squarely at speed- and alcohol-related fatal crashes, as reported by KTAR News.
For Snell and Jorgenson's families, the 24-year sentence closes out the criminal case but not the loss. Jorgenson had built her life around caution — a career in pharmacy, a habit of running, and a firm rule about never getting behind the wheel after drinking. Snell, meanwhile, was remembered in her east valley dance community as well-loved, a driver simply doing her job on a green light when Hintzsche's car came through the intersection.
