Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Beautiful Pregnant MOM-to-be MOWED DOWN DEAD BY 3-TIME DRUNK FEMALE

Episode Date: August 18, 2020

23-year-old Yesenia Aguilar and her husband James, following doctors' advice, take a daily walk. They are expecting their first child after 2 years of trying. James Alvarez says they hear screeching tires, a roaring engine and see an out of control car. Alvarez tries to move his wife out of the way but they became separated and Yesenia is hit. Anaheim paramedics rushed her to the hospital and doctors perform an emergency cesarean section. The driver of the car is a repeat offender drunk driver.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Randy Zelin NY, NY Criminal Defense Attorney www.randyzelinlaw.com  Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, ww.drbethanymarshall.com Investigator - Sheryl McCollum - Former Director MADD in Georgia, Forensics Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder Dr. Katherine Maloney, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Erie County Medical Examiners office, Buffalo, New York.  Levi Page - Investigative reporter Crime Online Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Many people say that having your first child or being pregnant at that time is the happiest time in a mother's life. And I remember when I was pregnant with the twins. There were baby showers, there were dreams, planning the nursery, just looking at the sonograms. Just the joy of knowing and praying and believing in everything good. And that leads me to the name Isenia Lizette Aguilar,

expecting her baby, but that was not meant to be. As she and her husband are out walking, trying to stay fit during the pregnancy, a drunk driver literally goes up on the curb to mow her down dead. We want justice. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Take a listen to this. 23-year-old Yesenia Aguilar and her husband James were following doctor's advice, taking a daily walk. They were holding hands as they walked the sidewalk along Anaheim Street, talking about decorating their baby's room. After two years of trying, the couple was expecting their first child, a daughter, in just about a month. James

Alvarez says everything happened quickly. He and his wife heard screeching tires, a daughter, in just about a month. James Alvarez says everything happened quickly. He and his wife heard screeching tires, a roaring engine, and they saw a car lose control and it wasn't stopping. Alvarez says he was trying to move his wife out of the way, but they became separated. Yesenia Aguilar was hit. Anaheim paramedics rushed her to a hospital where doctors performed an emergency cesarean section. The newborn baby girl, Adeline, was admitted in critical condition to UCI's neonatal intensive care unit. Little Adeline fighting for her life. Joining me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. First of all, renowned criminal defense attorney joining me out of New York, Randy Zellin, Z-E-L-L-I-N, at randyzellinlaw.com.

Psycho Analyst to the Stars. Joining me out of Beverly Hills, Dr. Bethany Marshall at drbethanymarshall.com. The founder and director of the Cold Case Research Institute, but more important today, the former director of MAD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Georgia, Cheryl McCollum, Dr. Catherine Maloney, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Erie County Medical Examiner's Office in Buffalo and first to CrimeOnline.com's investigative reporter Levi Page. Levi thank you for being with us let me start with you.

Explain to me about the area. Where did this happen? It's Anaheim, California, Southern California, Nancy. You know, I've taken a look at where they were walking and it's, there's a lot of greenery. There is a wrought iron fence that you'd see around a park in big cities. A beautiful wrought iron fence. A lot of flowers. Looks like yellow day lilies. And beautiful manicured shrubs leading up to the sidewalk. And wait a minute.

On top of the shrubs, ramming into this gorgeous wrought iron fence is a big white four-door Jeep Cherokee. All right. What do we think happened, Levi Page? So, Nancy, you just described this beautiful area. It's 7.30 p.m., and that's a perfect time during the summer to go for a walk. The sun's going down, and that's exactly what 23-year-old mother-to-be Yesenia Aguilar was doing. She was eight months pregnant. She and her boyfriend, James Alvarez, were taking a stroll, and they were having a conversation about baby Adeline's room and how they were going to decorate it and get it ready

for her. The baby's name is going to be Adeline Rose, beautiful name, when all of the sudden a Jeep jumped the curve of Catala Avenue, striking Yesenia Aguilar, narrowly missing James Alvarez. To Cheryl McCollum, former director of MAD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for the entire state of Georgia, I'm also looking at a scene where there's a sidewalk, a pretty big, nice, wide sidewalk with manicured green grass on either side. But this photo, the sidewalk is literally smeared in blood. And I mean a lot of it. And it looks like this blood smear goes about 14 feet. Cheryl McCollum, former director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Georgia, weigh in. There's absolutely no excuse for anyone to drive drunk anymore. It used to be that there were little towns like the towns you and I grew up in. We didn't have taxis. Correction, it was not

a town. It was literally a red dirt road with a tree growing up in the middle of it in front of our home where my grandfather literally dug the well. Okay, I wouldn't call that a town or like an area. But what were you saying about no... Where you grew up. There were no taxis. But now, it doesn't matter where you live. If you're in a farming community, you still have an Uber.

You still have a Lyft. There's somebody willing to give you a ride for just a few dollars. In Buckhead, you can go back to the hotels for $2. I mean, there's no excuse, Nancy. You can do a couple of other things too. Here's one. Walk home. Or here's another one.

Don't go out of your home and get drunk. Stay home and drink as much as you want and pass out in the den if you want to on the sofa. But to drive drunk now, there's no excuse at all for that to be happening. And I just want to give you one statistic, Nancy, to make this really clear to people. Twenty-nine people a day die at the hands of a drunk driver. Twenty nine people a day. And you know what, Cheryl, you and I were in the trenches together fighting crime. You were in many, many of my calendar calls. And I would look at the defendant's file. Of course, I only got them by the time it was a felony. In other words, HV, habitual violator, which means they had been DUI five, six, eight times before it finally turned into a felony.

Or it was vehicular homicide where they were drunk and killed somebody. And I would look. First thing I would do, go back to the back at the file and pull out a copy of the indictment and look at the rap sheet and I would see DUI DUI DUI DUI DUI DUI and finally somebody is dead guys I want you to take a listen learning a little bit more from eyewitnesses what happened at the same. This is Mary Beth McDade, KTLA 5. The doctor told her, well, you know, the baby's turn, the face of the baby's head's up.

You should walk more to kind of make her rotate, get her ready for pregnancy. He tells us they were discussing curtains for the baby's room when they heard a screeching sound on the sidewalk coming up behind them. You see this car, this white SUV just lose control and it wasn't losing any momentum. I tried to grab her, tried to pull her to me. He tells us somehow his wife let go of his hand and was run over by this white SUV, which continued down the sidewalk till it crashed into a fence and some bushes. He's paying me to have this. Like, what could I have done? What could I have done better? The husband and wife walking along the sidewalk discussing the curtains for the baby's room,

the little baby set to come in just a matter of weeks. That was not meant to be. Now, a funeral for mommy, the baby fighting for her life. You're hearing that the baby was going to be born breech, feet first. And the doctors tell mommy and daddy, husband and wife, Yesenia and her husband, that maybe if she exercised and walked, the baby could be born normally. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are talking about the brutal death of a young mom-to-be, Yesenia Lisette Aguilar. Her baby fighting for her life right now. To Dr. Catherine Maloney, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Erie County Medical Examiner's Office in Buffalo, what does that mean to be born

breech and how would exercise have helped that? Basically, when a baby is breech, it means that the baby's not head down, so facing the right way where the delivery will be easy. So what sometimes can help is if the mother exercises, the baby can rotate so that it's in the proper position for the baby and the mother. It's so ironic to me, to Dr. Bethany Marshall joining me out of LA at drbethanymarshall.com, that they, the mom and dad, were going through all of this to try to have a healthy baby and a healthy mommy to survive childbirth this is her first baby and a breach breach birth can end up in death for the baby and the mom and then how could you factor in this person Courtney Fritz Pandolfi she didn't even slow down bethany did you hear what the dad said yes and you know where

they were walking near disneyland the happiest place on earth and the mother yesenia was a cast member there i mean she was in a life that was really organized around joy and happiness as you were talking about celebrating when uh you were pregnant with Lucy and John David. It's one reality. And then this other horrible reality. I want to circle back to something Cheryl said, that there's no reason to drive drunk with taxis and with Uber. But when you go inside the mind of somebody with a substance abuse disorder,

they arrive to the bar. Are you trying to say that she didn't know what she was doing because she had a substance abuse? I call it, you know, going out for a big drunk that night. You know, you're just going to drink and drink and drink and drink and then pour yourself behind the wheel. Nancy, you have a normal mind. That's why you're thinking that way.

The person with a substance abuse disorder rationalizes every single time, I'm just going to have one drink. I'm just going to have one glass of Chardonnay. So they do not plan ahead to take Lyft or Uber or taxi. Remember, rationalization is one of the signs of substance abuse disorders. Rationalization, denial, not thinking about potential harm to others, severe negative consequences in social occupational functioning. These are the signs. This person did not drive to the bar thinking she was going to

overdrink. She drove to the bar thinking she would have a quick glass of Chardonnay and then go home and cook dinner for her family or something like that. And by the time she became inebriated, she didn't even remember there was Lyft, Uber or a taxi. Quit making excuses. This is not about memory. Please jump in and then we're going to join team, join together and attack our defense attorney Randy Zelen because Cheryl McCollum, here's the deal. People go, oh, we didn't mean to. We were drunk.

B.S. You're the one that knows you have a drinking problem. Whether you do or not doesn't matter. You're the one that goes to the bar. You're the one that orders drink after drink after drink. You're the one that reaches in your pocketbook and gets your keys. You're the one that walks to the car, unlocks the door, gets in the car, shuts the door, keys in ignition, crank it up, put it in reverse, drive out. Every one of those acts is premeditated under the law. Nancy, here's the deal. I've never once met an alcoholic that didn't know they were

an alcoholic. They know it. Whether there's pre-planning involved, that's the issue. But let me tell you something. This person got a DUI in 2008, in 2015, in 2016, and now, unfortunately, 2020. The average person that gets a DUI has driven drunk 320 times before that first arrest. Whoa, wait, whoa, wait, stop. What? What did you say? Before they get their first DUI, they have driven 320 times while under the influence without getting caught. So in other words, the first time you drink and drive is not when you're caught. You drink and drive all the time and occasionally you get caught. And this person, I am telling you, their job, their personal relationships show it, the way they function in their friendship group and in

their family circle. Everybody knows this person is an alcoholic. Everybody knows it. I'm shocked they have a license, insurance, or a car because they should not have. After two DUIs already. Well, Cheryl McCollum, thanks a lot for that 320 previous drunk drivings before they get caught. I was just letting John David ride his bike in the neighborhood. Well, that's all over. 320 times before your first DUI. To you, Randy Zelen joining me, a renowned criminal defense attorney joining me in the New York area at RandyZelenLaw.com. You know, I know your deal, Randy.

Okay, so you'll go in court and you would argue it was an accident. It was just a crash. It's not just a crash. This woman chose to go get drunk at a bar and then she chose to drive, Randy Zelen. So, what I would do in a situation like this with the limited facts that are available to me right now, I would look to take this case out of what we call in California a Watson murder. And a Watson murder is someone charged with a DWI coupled with a fatal accident. That is how you get to murder two and a minimum mandatory 15 years to life sentence. So I think the appropriate way to defend this case

would be to look to take this out of a murder case and turn this into a manslaughter case, because here, if I can get out of the murder statute, I am out of a mandatory minimum sentence. And I also may be able to get this case into a misdemeanor. Oh, good Lord. Just stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Cut his mic. Zell, and I haven't cut your mic in a long time. But don't even say

Esenia Lizette Aguilar, her baby, fighting for her life, cut out of the stomach at 30 plus weeks. My children were premature, Randy. I'm sure you remember that. They were in intensive care with wires in every part of their body for weeks and weeks and weeks.

We didn't think Lucy was going to live. They were so premature. And you actually said the word misdemeanor. I mean, just why am I hearing him? Did you not cut his mic? Keep it. Keep your finger on that button. Wait a minute.

Cheryl McCollum, I want you to hear our friend Mary Beth McDay, KTLA. James Alvarez's world turned upside down last night in the blink of an eye. The nightmare of his 23-year-old pregnant wife, Yasinia Aguilar. The doctor told her, well, you know know the baby's turn the face of the baby's head up you should walk more to kind of make her rotate get her ready for pregnancy. He tells us they were discussing curtains for the baby's room when they heard a screeching sound on the sidewalk coming up behind them. You see this car this white SUV just lose control and it wasn't losing any momentum.

I had to pull it to me. He tells us somehow his wife let go of his hand and was run over by this white SUV, which continued down the sidewalk till it crashed into a fence and some bushes. He's paying me to have this, like, what could I have done? What could I have done better? He's going to go the rest of his life wondering, why did I live? And she died, the mother of the baby. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. And I want to thank you again for being with us here at Fox Nation Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. And I want to thank you again for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. You know, at the beginning when I first started trying cases in inner city Atlanta, all felonies,

I would try to sugarcoat it because I thought the facts were so awful. Then I realized there's no way to sugarcoat it. There's no way to airbrush what happened. The blood all over that sidewalk is from Mommy Esenia. She's dead. Cheryl McCollum, you know, you and I have been together a long time, as have many of the people on the panel right now. Do you remember when I was pregnant with John David and Lucy?

And you threw that big baby shower at your mother-in-law's house. And we were talking about how I was decorating the children's room in New York. And the apartment's so tiny. And I had fit their two's room in New York, and the apartment's so tiny, and I had fit their two cribs in one room, and we had everything set up for them, and this special rug I found, and I just can't imagine this happening at a time like that. I remember everything about that day and just the excitement and the anticipation. It's like you said to me, you said leading up to them getting here and you being able to hold them and everything, you were like every day is

Christmas Eve. Like you're just so excited every day because you know what's fixing to happen. And you know, you think all of this was taken from her for what? A couple of beers? This was taken from her for a shot of Jack Daniels? What? What was worth that? And you got this baby that is struggling to breathe on her own that now has to go through life without her mama. What, so you can tie one on? Dr. Catherine Maloney, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner at Buffalo. Dr. Maloney, what do we know about the injuries to mommy and baby at this juncture? Well, it looks like the baby had to have not been injured too badly because it sounds like, you know, the baby's still alive. So I would say that the injuries to the mother probably were not of her torso or abdomen.

The injuries were most likely to her head, probably some devastating injuries. We know that the baby is still in NICU, neonatal intensive care Unit. To Dr. Catherine Maloney, how is a NICU different from an ICU? So in the NICU, basically all the patients are babies. So there's going to be a lot more emphasis on, you know, more monitoring than there would be in the average adult ICU, especially of things like temperature. There's going to be a lot of, you know, tubes in the babies, unfortunately, to keep them healthy and alive. And then usually the babies are in small isolettes or small, basically hospital beds that kind of surround them to keep them warm and sometimes to keep them from, you know, being touched by other people or exposed to other germs if their immune systems aren't developed enough to protect them.

That's exactly how my twins, John, David, and Lucy were. Dr. Maloney, they had tubes going in their nose, and it was all taped up on their face. It would go in the nose, and it would come out their foot. That's right. They had a tube going all the way through their body. I can't remember now what that was. They had other tubes in them as well. And all I could do is wash my hands and then put my arms through two holes in the plastic.

They were like in a plastic box and I could barely touch them through that box. And Cheryl, do you remember, I was in intensive care too and then I got in a room and I didn't know this, but I set off a silent alarm in the hospital because I got somebody to help me get out of my room and push me to the babies. And I didn't know, you know, that then I was empty from my room and they set off an alarm in the hospital because they thought a patient had escaped. Delicate balance in NICU because the baby could live or die. And I'm reading witness reports, Cheryl, that said, quote, when I got over there, I noticed a lady who looked pregnant on the ground

and her head was, quote, banged up. So I think what Dr. Catherine Maloney is saying is correct, that the injury from this Jeep hitting the pregnant mom was to the head. Correct. But you also have to remember for that baby, once the mama stops breathing, so does the baby. So even though the child might not have had direct injury from the impact, there was still limited time to save that baby's life. And that's the reason she wasn't breathing on her own and things like that in the very beginning. To Randy Zelen.

Hold on, Randy. Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Who is this woman with prior DUI offenses and driving with a suspended license? What do we know about Courtney Fritz-Pandolfi, DUI offenses and driving with a suspended license. What do we know about Courtney Fritz-Pandolfi, old enough to know better at age 40? Yes, age 40. She's from Garden Grove, California.

She was the driver. She is facing charges, DUI drugs, driving on a suspended license. The most serious charge is second- murder her bail is set at three million dollars and she has a history of this nancy she's been arrested for dui in 2008 2015 and 2016 and according to the oc register according to prosecutors after all three convicts convictions she was giving a warning known as a Watson advisement that if she continued to drive under the influence and killed someone, she would be charged with murder. That warning apparently didn't do a lot of good as she has killed someone.

Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills. She was warned over and over and over. She was driving on a suspended license. I mean, when I go to a stop sign, I totally stop and wait because I'm convinced somewhere there's a cop lurking that's going to pull me over. How can you completely disregard what you've been warned about? Nancy, because she has a substance abuse disorder, I hate to disagree with everybody on the panel, but I really believe you said earlier on the show that once she had, you know, a number of drinks that she willfully, you know, pulled out her pocketbook and paid for the drinks willfully gotten in her car.

I would say that once she drank that much, the breaking system in the brain was gone. She probably did not really believe. How do you think she got in her car she was probably no i'm serious blacked out state nancy really blacked out but she can find her car in a parking lot find her key i can't even find the keys to get in the door so she can get to her car in a crowded parking lot find the right key key, crank up, put it in reverse, put it in drive, and then mow this pregnant mom down as she's blacked out? Nancy, I went to a patient who was drunk, blacked out, got up in the middle of the night, drove to a party, came home, doesn't remember the whole incident. Once they get to a certain point, Nancy, it's like the brain is disabled.

The braking system has to happen long before they pick up that first drink. She needed a breathalyzer in her car so she could not turn on that engine. Or perhaps there are many kinds of drugs we can give patients now. Like there's a drug called Antabuse where if you take it, you cannot drink. It makes you sicker than a dog. And she would have to submit to that kind of treatment. You know what you're doing? Coulda, woulda, shoulda, blah, blah, blah.

None of that negates the fact of what she did. She should have had this drug. She should have had a breathalyzer. Don't care. And to you, Cheryl McCollum, former director of MAD Georgia, all this business about blacking out, well, she sure managed to get her pocketbook and pay her bill and get down off that bar stool,

pour herself behind the wheel and take off. Correct. And here's another thing. If she had had the breathalyzer in her car, she would have just got somebody to blow in it. She would have still cranked up and left. These are criminals. And yes, they have a disease, but their disease is very selfish and their disease is illegal most of the time. And they know how to work around it. I am telling you, I have never known anybody addicted to alcohol or drugs that didn't know how to hide it, didn't know how to manipulate people, didn't know how to work the system.

This person has been given three warnings, three, and told, hey, if you do this again, it's going to be murder. Still didn't care. Still drove as big as Dallas through a crowd of people killing somebody, almost killing two people. And you're talking about the person that was the face of Disneyland. She was the first person you saw when you entered that park. Can you think of a more joyful person? You're not put in a costume. You're not way back in the park

somewhere. You're going to be the first person people see that tells you about your victim right there. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about a beautiful young mom-to-be. And if you look at her picture, I'm looking at it right now, I can't decide if she looks like Sleeping Beauty or Jasmine. She just has beautiful, long, black, shiny hair. Just gorgeous.

I almost hate to even say the facts. This mom, going for a walk with her husband, planning the baby room's curtains. Courtney Fritz-Pandolfi jumps the curb and mows her down. Take a listen to our friend Tina Patel, KCAL 9. Flowers and candles have been left on the sidewalk where Yesenia Aguilar was killed by a suspected DUI driver last night. Friends who worked with the 23-year-old at Disneyland have been sharing photos of her online. She was 35 weeks pregnant. Police say she was walking with her husband when she was struck by a jeep that had jumped the curb. David Orozco rushed over to try and help.

It looked like she wasn't breathing anymore. The husband was, I think, checking the pulse. And when he did check, he screamed. Like, if she didn't have a pulse, I was guessing she didn't. Doctors were able to perform an emergency C-section on Aguilar and deliver her baby daughter, although at last report the girl was still in critical condition in the neonatal unit at the UCI Medical Center. Police say this is a heartbreaking case. This was a healthy 23-year-old Anaheim resident who was about to deliver a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and now she's hit and killed in front of her husband who administered CPR while

he was waiting on paramedics to arrive. Managers at this Taco Bell are not releasing their security video. They say it does not show the impact but it does show the driver of the jeep speeding down the sidewalk. Guys we were talking about the death of a beautiful young mom-to-be Yesenia Aguilar. Baby Addie Rose, Adeline Rose, put on a breathing tube, a respiratory tube. To you, Dr. Catherine Maloney, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Erie County, that's Buffalo. How exactly does a respiratory tube work? Basically, the tube is inserted into the person's throat down halfway down the windpipe. And then there is a machine that basically pumps air into the lungs and then allows the air to be expressed out of the lungs. So basically, this machine is breathing for the person. So they're

getting the oxygen that they need. Take a listen to our friend Jessica DeNovo, ABC7. Anaheim police say a suspected intoxicated driver courtney pendolfi of garden grove drove her jeep onto a curb on catella avenue as the couple took their evening walk hitting aguilar alvarez remembers their last conversation we were literally talking about like how we were going to prepare the baby's closet, the baby's room. We were thinking about the curtains. Little Adeline delivered via C-section at the UCI Medical Center. Mom pronounced dead.

Police say Pandolfi, who has two prior DUI arrests, is once again behind bars. This time, booked on felony DUI, driving with a suspended license and murder. This now single father still in shock, left planning how to raise his baby without his better half. I want to do my best and show her that she's going to be in good hands. So now, now it's my responsibility to be the father and the mother of our child. Yes, I don't know what to do, but I have to learn. Witnesses say he literally bent over double screaming when he realized his wife was dying or dead, the baby, everything.

Lost in a flash in an emergency C--section the baby was saved going on a breathing tube actually randy zell on new york criminal defense attorney at randy zell and law.com we just heard the reporter say two prior duis there are actually three and proof that a convicted dui driver in that jurisdiction proof that they got a so-called Watson advisement about what would happen if they're caught again driving drunk, allows prosecutors to now charge Pandolfi with second-degree murder instead of vehicular homicide. What's the difference under the law? I guess that means you're going to uncut his mic go ahead randy zellen you're free okay well until you cut my mic the difference is what we call in the law implied malice which is

another way of saying i recognize the sanctity of human life i I recognize human life, but I am going to nonetheless close my eyes to it. In other words, I consciously disregard human life. So a defense attorney's job here, in order to take this out of a murder in the second degree and a minimum mandatory 15 years to life sentence is to demonstrate that while the defendant was intoxicated and while tragically someone died, the defendant did not have implied malice. And here what's going to be critical is to try to show that the jumping up onto the curb was not the product of a conscious disregard for human life. It may be that the defendant was trying to get out of the way of another car or swerve, but certainly didn't say, oh, here are people. I really don't care. I'm going to kill them. It is a tall order, but it is the only order that a defense attorney can undertake in order to prevent this woman from going to jail for 15 years to life.

Okay, Cheryl McCollum, former director of MAD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Georgia. You know how in football teams, let's just go with that, coaches and others are always accused of reading the other coaches' lips during the game to figure out what they're going to do. In other words, knowing their playbook. That's exactly what Zellin just told us, what the defense's playbook is going to be in this case. It's not a whodunit.

We know whodunit. And whodunit was Courtney Fritz-Pandolfi. But the reality is when he says there was no intent, how do you fight that with the facts as the former director of MADD? Well, here it is. I will channel Nancy Grace. Here's how you do it. I'm not a prosecutor, but you build a, and you put all the elements that bomb needs together, and you go and put it in the middle of a park and walk away. And then it ignites at some point. You can't claim, well, I didn't mean to hurt that particular person.

I had no beef with John Smith or John Q. He just happened to walk by when this bomb went off. But you built it. You did it it you did nothing to prevent it she could have prevented it when she left her house she could have prevented it when she ordered the first drink she could have prevented it when she ordered the second or the third she could have prevented it when she got her car keys and walked out of that bar she could have prevented it when she got in her car and cranked up. She could have prevented it before she ever put that car in drive. She could have prevented it when she did not even

brake, according to witnesses. Every single thing she did set up for that murder. And she was warned in 2008 and possibly given treatment. She was warned in 2015, probably again offered treatment. She was told again in 2016. She ignored every single judge, every single prosecutor, every single police officer, and every single loved one. Take a listen to KTLA's Chip Yost. Police say at the time of the incident, Pandolfi was under the influence of drugs and that it wasn't the first time she had driven in such a condition. The district attorney's office says she had prior DUI convictions in 2008, 2015 and 2016. And each time was given what's known as the Watson advisement, informing her that if she ever killed someone while driving under the influence in the future, she could be charged with murder.

This could possibly be her fifth lifetime DUI. She is essentially trying to post her child for Watson DUI cases. In court, prosecutors asked for her $1 million bail to be raised to $5 million based on her history. The judge set it in the middle at $3 million. Hear me loud and clear. Alcoholism is a disease. Alcoholics so often cannot control what they're doing. It needs to be treated. But when that drinker gets behind the wheel of a car

and puts everyone else in danger, in danger for their lives, it's gone beyond treatment. This is a felony. This is second-degree murder, and we wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.