Left inset: Shane Shahan (Fresno Police Department). Right inset: Jesse Espino (Chapel of Light). Background: The car that Jesse Espino was riding in when Shane Shahan ran a red light and slammed into it, killing Espino (KFSN).
A California man is headed to prison for causing a fatal car crash after blowing through a red light at nearly 80 mph and then running away from the scene. Video played at his trial showed the man looking back at the wreck and a dying passenger before fleeing.
“They looked back … and proceeded to run,” a Fresno police officer testified at Shane Shahan”s murder trial in January, according to local ABC affiliate KFSN.
When cops caught up to Shahan, who was sentenced to 19 years to life on Tuesday, he told them, “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, I got scared. I didn’t know what to do,” according to the officer who testified about the 2023 crash.
“I could smell the odor of alcohol on him,” the cop said, according to KFSN. “He was sweating profusely. Talking erratically.”
Shahan was traveling around 80 mph when he blew through a red light at First Street and McKinley Avenue, according to police. He was driving a Chevrolet Colorado and collided with a Hyundai Elantra that had two occupants inside, one of whom was 35-year-old passenger Jesse Espino, who suffered numerous injuries and died at the hospital.
“[Shahan] fled the scene immediately following the accident,” police said in a June 2023 press release. “Officers ultimately located [Shahan] in a nearby neighborhood a short time later.”
Shahan flipped his truck but managed to escape unscathed. He was driving drunk and had marijuana in his system, with prosecutors saying he had two previous alcohol-related driving convictions on his record at the time, from 2016 and 2017.
Shahan was still on probation for the 2017 DUI when he caused the crash.
“There was no phone call to 911, even though he had a cellphone,” a Fresno County judge said at Shahan’s sentencing, according to KFSN. “This is not just one bad decision. It was multiple bad decisions and selfish decisions.”
Espino’s sister, Crystal Espino, told the court, “We are not the same people we were before that day. My parents have suffered the ultimate tragedy and I have lost my only sibling, the person I was supposed to grow old with.”
Espino’s father, Edward Espino, said, “Seeing Jesse laying motionless on the hospital table, it’s an image I live with every day. I kissed his forehead and said my last goodbye, knowing nothing will ever bring him back.”
Shahan was given the maximum sentence allowed after being convicted of second-degree murder, hit-and-run resulting in death and driving with a suspended license. It took jurors less than an hour to convict him.
