After three years of emotionally-charged hearings in a Cochise County courtroom, a New Mexico woman accused of causing the death of another motorist after she made a U-turn on State Route 80 was sentenced to four years probation.
New information surfaced Wednesday morning in the sentencing hearing for Debra Charlotte Franco of Silver City after her attorney made an impassioned statement on behalf of Franco, whom he called the “kindest client I have ever had.”
David Wilkison said that the man who was killed, 70-year-old Jesus Campoy, was driving 75 miles per hour and without a seatbelt when he swerved to avoid hitting Franco on Aug. 31, 2019. The crash occurred on SR 80 near its intersection with State Route 90.
Franco was on SR 90 and was supposed to turn left onto SR 80 toward Tombstone. Instead, she turned right and when she realized her mistake, she made a U-turn, investigators said. Campoy was coming from the opposite direction, swerved when he saw Franco, but then slid across the road and struck a guardrail. A truck driver who was behind Campoy slammed into his car, killing him instantly.
At the time of the crash, investigators had said Franco, who fled from the scene and was stopped by law enforcement on SR 90 near Tombstone, had been driving drunk. But that theory was dashed when blood tests came back revealing Franco had no drugs or alcohol in her system.
Franco was initially charged with reckless manslaughter and negligent homicide in Campoy’s death. She had served 145 days in the Cochise County Jail but was freed in January 2020 after Cochise County Superior Court Judge Laura Cardinal ordered she be released and placed on a GPS monitor.
The monitor was eliminated earlier this year after Wilkison filed a motion showing the company that owns the GPS monitors Franco had been wearing was unresponsive when the apparatuses began malfunctioning. At that point Cardinal, satisfied that Franco had done everything possible to reach out to the company owner to no avail, approved having the monitor removed.
Based on her plea agreement, Franco will be placed on probation for four years. The offer also stipulated that she serve 150 days in jail, but because she had already been incarcerated for 145 days, Franco only has five days remaining on her sentence. Wilkison said she would surrender at the jail on Sept. 15 and remain there until Sept. 20.
Several of Campoy’s relatives were in the courtroom Wednesday and three of them — two daughters and a grandson — asked Cardinal to incarcerate Franco because she had never shown remorse or taken responsibility for killing their father and grandfather. Two of the relatives are probation officers and said they believed in rehabilitation but only when the defendant regretted his or her actions and took responsibility.
Another daughter, who said she was the oldest of Campoy’s children, brought a small framed picture of her father and showed it to Cardinal. She then placed it on the table where she sat next to prosecutor Doyle Johnstun and positioned the photo so that Franco would have to look at it.
The first daughter who testified, Maria Campoy, told Cardinal Franco had lied in the past because she claimed she had a disability, when in fact she was taking care of a “drug-addicted daughter.”
Wilkison quickly corrected that, telling Cardinal that Franco’s daughter is not a drug addict. He said the woman — who was in court —is “mentally retarded” and was diagnosed as such in the second grade. That’s why Franco could not surrender at the jail on Wednesday because she said her daughter was unable to drive back to Silver City.
Franco apologized profusely to the Campoy family, speaking through tears.
“If I could, I would take back that day,” she said. “I’ve had family members killed by drunk drivers.
“I am so sorry. Whether they accept my apology, I don’t know,” she added with a small shrug.
Wilkison told the judge he had grappled with the idea of a plea agreement because after learning that Franco was sober when she was driving and that Campoy had been speeding, he thought he had a solid case.
“There are accidents and there are not accidents,” Wilkison said. “I believe this was an accident.”
Cardinal asked Franco if she had forgiven the motorist who had killed one of Franco’s family members. Franco said she had, but it had taken some time.
The judge then acknowledged there had been several issues in the case that were later corrected and/or revealed via testing and evidence.
“To deny the evidentiary truth does a disservice to everyone,” Cardinal said. “There was an excessive speed by Mr. Campoy. The fact that Ms. Franco was not driving drunk needs to be recognized, as well.”
Cardinal also said Franco’s willingness to take a plea was an admission that she did something wrong and had taken responsibility for it, this in response to the Campoy family’s repeated statements that Franco had not owned up to the offense.
“I hope that at some point you can forgive yourself, Ms. Franco,” Cardinal said.
The judge told the Campoy family she hoped they could eventually forgive Franco, as well, because that would bring them some peace.
Meanwhile, a restitution hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 2. It’s unclear how much restitution Franco will be responsible for toward the victim’s family.