Father's remorse heard at sentencing

By Jerry Bier / The Fresno Bee

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Jess Ledesma spoke softly, fighting the tears.

"I still can't believe this has happened," he told the judge, his voice barely audible as members of his family and friends wept nearby during his sentencing hearing Tuesday.

He lives each day fighting depression and no longer drinks alcohol, Ledesma said. He is described by others as a man who has gone from carefree to somber. But still, they depend on him for their strength.

Ledesma, 39, said he did not think he was drunk when he drove off Trimmer Springs Road near Piedra almost two years ago, causing the deaths of his 8-year-old son, Ellec, and 7-year-old niece, Jennie.

Family members and his lawyer, Mark Coleman, had asked Fresno County Superior Court Judge Wayne R. Ellison not to send Ledesma to prison for the accident that had killed the two children.

Ellison sentenced Ledesma to five years on probation and suspended a 365-day jail term. He also ordered him not to drink, to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

Go to churches and high schools and other places, Ellison told Ledesma, and "you tell them this story about the tragedies that can unfold in your life."

It was a family picnic, and Ledesma, who pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter, did not think he'd had that much to drink when he strapped the two children into his sport utility vehicle late on a Sunday evening and headed back to Fresno from Choinumni Park.

Minutes later, he struggled to unbuckle his son and niece from the sinking SUV before a swift Kings River current washed him downstream.

Hours later, the body of his son was found a half-mile downstream. The body of his niece was found still strapped into the back seat of the submerged Ford Bronco.

His blood-alcohol level after the accident registered 0.10. A driver in California is considered legally drunk with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08.

Ledesma's wife, Teresa; his sister, Irene; his mother, Frances; and his employer, Donald Vassar, asked the judge not to send him to prison.

"I don't hold my brother responsible in any way," said a weeping Irene Ledesma. "I know it was a freak accident. … My daughter adored her uncle. I know she wouldn't want him to be taken away."

Jess Ledesma is no longer the "carefree, happy kid we always had," his mother said. "I know it will never be over for him."

Coleman said Ledesma has not had alcohol since the accident, has joined Alcoholics Anonymous, has undergone counseling and is being treated for deep depression.

"In terms of punishment, I have never seen a man so tormented," Coleman said. "Nothing the court can do can punish Mr. Ledesma more than he has punished himself."

Ledesma said he has to keep himself strong for his family and his other two sons. He has to talk about the experience with other people, he said.

"I have to get out there and do something positive and turn it around," he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

Deputy District Attorney Heather Roush called the case "true tragedy" and asked the judge to send a message in his sentence that "you don't get into a car with two small children" when you have been drinking.