Illegal immigrant faces 1 year in prison for fatal crash after driving truck without license in Colorado

Scott Miller died when the truck driven by Cruz-Mendoza slammed into his car on Highway 285 near Bailey. His widow told 9 News, "I'm mad that I’m not going to get justice for my husband, mad because the most this man can get is a year for murdering my husband because the DA refused to charge him with more charge," Deann Miller said.

She added, "He should not have been behind the wheel of that truck, and he knew that, and he chose to do this." Miller asked, "How many more people have to die on Colorado roads, on any road, before they start doing their job?"

Cruz-Mendoza was only charged with misdemeanor traffic violations: one count of careless driving resulting in death and three counts of careless driving resulting in injury and pleaded guilty to those charges in July at his arraignment. This prevented prosecutors from filing more charges as they obtained more evidence from crash investigators.

Miller continued, "It makes me feel like they didn’t do their job. They’re not doing their job. Who else is going to get these rogue truck drivers and these rogue trucking companies off the road if not the people we put in charge to make us safe."

Earlier this year, a truck driver in a nearby county was sentenced to 16 years for a similar deadly crash. Several years ago, the same district attorney's office in Jefferson County prosecuted the truck driver who killed four people on Interstate 70 and he received a 110-year sentence before it was reduced by the governor.

The DA’s office told the outlet that Monique Trucking, the trucking company involved in Miller’s death, is still being investigated and that the company has a history of violations including drivers on the road without proper licenses.