Background: News footage of Luis Leyba-Gonzalez leaving court (WTHR). Inset: Makayla Hankins (WTHR/Instagram).
An Indiana man who was fleeing police with two relatives in the car and caused a crash that killed a total of three people was handed a lenient sentence after pleading guilty.
Luis Leyba-Gonzalez, 21, was originally charged with 12 felonies in connection with a fatal car crash that took the lives of his younger brother, 14-year-old Christian Leyba-Gonzalez, his cousin, 32-year-old Jose Gonzalez Jr., and 21-year-old Makayla Hankins, who was in another car. On Oct. 3, Luis Leyba-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to nine of the 12 counts, including three counts of resisting law enforcement resulting in death, three counts of reckless homicide, and three counts of causing death while operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance in the blood.
Judge Jennifer Prinz Harrison tossed six of the counts, according to the Indianapolis Star, and sentenced Luis Leyba-Gonzalez for just the three counts of resisting law enforcement resulting in death.
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According to reporting by local NBC affiliate WTHR, Luis Leyba-Gonzalez was behind the wheel of his Dodge Challenger on the night of Sept. 26, 2023, with his cousin and teenage brother as his passengers. Before 10 p.m., state police tried to pull Luis Leyba-Gonzalez over, but he fled police instead, reaching speeds up to 140 mph.
State troopers reportedly stopped chasing him, and moments later, Luis Leyba-Gonzalez ran a red light while going 100 mph and plowed into a car being driven by Hankins.
Christian Leyba-Gonzalez and Jose Gonzalez Jr. died at the scene. Hankins, who had gotten married just two weeks before the crash, died at the hospital.
Luis Leyba-Gonzalez faced nine to 48 years behind bars for the crimes to which he pleaded guilty. Prosecutors asked for 25 years in prison. The defense asked for a maximum of three years. In the end, the judge sentenced Luis Leyba-Gonzalez to nine years, only two of which are to be spent behind bars.
Hankins’ grandmother, who adopted Makayla after her mother’s death, told WTHR, “My first words were, ‘Is that all he got for killing three people?'” She added, “That’s not justice. That’s not justice at all. That’s a slap on the hand.”
Local Fox affiliate WXIN reported that the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police called the sentence a “miscarriage of justice.” In a lengthy statement condemning the judge’s leniency, including at the beginning of the case when Harrison set Luis Leyba-Gonzalez’s cash bond at $1,000, the organization said, “Time and again, police leaders have raised red flags about their concerns with the disproportionate incidents of low bonds, lenient sentences, and lackluster performance within the Marion County Criminal Justice System.”
The statement added, “Cops are calling for backup for victims and their families. There must be equal protection under the law for the accused and the accosted.”
