BISBEE — A repeat drunk driver who in 2004 was sentenced to a total of 21 years for killing two people near Tombstone had his prison term cut in half yesterday after a hearing at which expert testimony showed that his victims could have survived if they had worn seatbelts.

Todd Patrick Allard, 39, of Elgin, was initially sentenced to consecutive 101⁄2-year terms for two reckless manslaughter convictions stemming from an auto collision he caused on May 18, 2003.

The collision claimed the lives of Tucson residents Jose and Beatriz Velazquez, both 52.

The state Court of Appeals, however, sent the case back to Cochise County Superior Court for re-sentencing after it found that Judge Tom Collins had erred by not allowing Allard to present mitigating factors — including the seatbelt evidence — prior to his sentencing.

On Monday, Paul Gruen, a Sierra Vista-based collision reconstruction expert, told new sentencing judge Wallace Hoggatt that the Velazquezes would have had at least a 90-percent chance of surviving the collision if they had worn seatbelts.

“Had they been wearing belts, I think they would have walked away from this,” Gruen said.

Hoggatt, noting that he was required by law to consider the seatbelt evidence, as well as the fact that the deaths of the two Velazquezes were caused by one action rather than two, ruled that Allard should serve his two sentences concurrently rather than consecutively.

However, he refused to reduce the concurrent sentences from 101⁄2 years each, saying that evidence of Allard’s remorse and community support was not enough to mitigate the victim’s family’s suffering — or the fact that Allard was drunk when he caused the collision.

“They didn’t wear a seatbelt, and you drank too much and drove recklessly,” Hoggatt told the defendant.

Allard had a blood-alcohol level of just over .14 — nearly twice the legal limit of .08 — when he skidded through a stop sign on Davis Road at state Highway 80, south of Tombstone, and slammed into the Velazquez’s Nissan pickup.

The collision caused the truck to roll over as many as three times, throwing the two occupants from the vehicle. Both died at the scene of massive trauma.

Allard, who was not injured, initially told police that his brakes had failed, but mechanical tests proved the excuse untrue.  Then during his trial, he changed his story to say that he stepped on his puppy, Lucy, when he attempted to apply the brakes.

Expert testimony estimated that Allard was traveling close to 50 mph in a 35 mph zone when he braked late for the stop sign, and that his victims were driving within the posted speed limit and had no alcohol in their systems.

Defense attorney Kelly Smith on Monday presented a string of character witnesses — including friends, former employers, Allard’s father and his ex-fiancée — who said that Allard had renounced alcohol since the collision.

The witnesses spoke of Allard as a man of responsibility and honesty, and said that the crime had been an example of a good person who made a bad mistake.

Prosecutor Marc Offenhartz, who characterized Allard on the day of the collision as “a ballistic missile fueled by alcohol,” expressed cynicism at Allard’s reputed responsibility.

After all, he noted, Allard had previously been convicted of DUI in 2000 but decided to drive drunk again on the night he killed the Velazquezes.

Three of the victim’s sons, Marco Mungia, Daniel Mungia and Angel Velazquez, were in the courtroom to advocate for two consecutive 10-1⁄2-year prison terms for Allard.

Diana Mungia, the victims’ daughter-in-law, read a letter written by Angel, 13, in which he said that Allard had “ruined (his) life.”

Mrs. Mungia also read a letter from her son, 8-year-old Arturo Mungia, who said: “I miss my grandma’s hugs and kisses, and I miss my grandpa taking me to the movies.”

Speaking on his own behalf, Allard said he had been thinking for four years about how he could express his remorse to the victims’ loved ones.

“The grief that I feel for the Velazquez family is honest and sincere,” he said. 

Herald/Review reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.