El Paso County Driver Gets 15 Years For Crash That Killed Dixie Chicks Founding Member

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A 33-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in jail after he admitted to driving recklessly and inflicting the crash that killed one of many founding members of the Dixie Chicks in Hudspeth County.

According to El Paso District Attorney James Montoya, Domenick Chavez pleaded responsible to manslaughter for the head-on crash that killed 65-year-old Laura Lynch.

The crash occurred on Dec. 22, 2023, at round 6 pm on US62/180, close to mile marker 74 in Hudspeth County.

Montoya mentioned that as a part of the plea settlement, Chavez was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

On the night time of the crash, Chavez was driving with a suspended license after it had been revoked as a consequence of penalties after two DWI-related convictions in 2014 and 2017.

Montoya added that whereas Chavez was not driving drunk on the time of the crash, investigators realized that he was driving quick, reaching speeds of 106 to 114 miles per hour.

Investigators additionally pieced collectively how the crash occurred, saying Chavez was driving a 2022 Dodge Ram pickup truck going west– in direction of El Paso County– when he tried to move 4 automobiles on a two-way undivided freeway.

As a consequence, investigators mentioned that Chavez crashed head-on with Lynch’s 2016 F-150 pickup truck, inflicting his truck to catch hearth and trapping Lynch inside her truck, the place she died from the accidents she suffered.

Chavez was taken to the hospital, the place he was handled for his accidents, which have been described as “non-life-threatening.”

Montoya launched the next written assertion, noting Lynch’s musical profession and lamenting that her dying occurred through the holidays:

The dying of Ms. Lynch brought about profound unhappiness for her household, the Dell City neighborhood, and all those that appreciated her music. It is a loss made extra acute by the very fact that it occurred simply days earlier than Christmas. Our workplace will proceed to carry accountable these defendants who select to drive in an especially harmful method.(*15*)
KFOX14/CBS4 requested Chavez’s mugshot; However, Montoya’s workplace mentioned there isn’t any reserving photograph.
RECOMMENDED: One hospitalized with minor injuries after car fire extinguished by crews in West El Paso
Sign up to obtain the highest fascinating tales from in and round our neighborhood as soon as each day in your inbox.