Illegal immigrant with 5 DUI convictions, 4 deportations, sentenced to 24 years in prison for killing mother, son while driving drunk in Colorado

An illegal immigrant who has been deported four times and has had around five previous DUI convictions was just sentenced to prison for 24 years this week after he killed a mother and son while driving intoxicated in Colorado last year.  

Jose Guadalupe Menjivar-Alas, 37, pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide after he crashed into a mother and son in Colorado. He was driving drunk and was estimated to be going 80 to 100 miles per hour at the time of the crash on Dec 12, 2023, per Fox 31.

The outlet previously reported that Menjivar had been deported four times before the crash and that he had been convicted of driving under the influence "at least five times" since 2007, according to the local district attorney's office.  

ICE told the outlet that Menjivar, who is a citizen of El Salvador, had been removed from the United States in 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2015. Menjivar has a lengthy record of driving under the influence and according to court records, has four convictions for alcohol-related driving offenses in Boulder, Colorado alone. He has pleaded guilty in three other cases involving impaired driving. 

In the days leading up to the crash, a prosecutor argued on Dec. 8 that he should be sentenced immediately to a year in jail for posing a danger to the community. The judge instead opted for 365 days of work release as well as two years of probation.  

"The Court allowed the defendant to wait out-of-custody for a bed in the work release program — over our office’s objection,” the Boulder DA's office told Fox 31. “The one year of work release would have required the defendant to remain in the jail except when authorized to leave for work." 

When Menjivar was taken to the hospital after the crash last December, he was found to have a blood alcohol level three times that of the legal limit and told officers he could not remember the accident.