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Zdeineb Juarez Calderon appears in a booking photo in April 2022. (Fresno County Sheriff’s Office)
A California woman who killed an innocent man while driving drunk was sentenced to the maximum penalty in court on Monday.
Zdeineb Juarez Calderon, 24, was driving drunk for at least the second time in the same year when she ran a stop sign and then struck and killed Jeff Nazaroff, 59, in April 2022. Authorities say she had a .25 blood alcohol content on the day in question. Two months before that, she was arrested for drunk driving with a .30 BAC.
The defendant had not contested the charges against her.
Calderon had hoped the judge overseeing her sentencing would exert some measure of leniency for accepting blame — that did not occur. Instead, she will spend the next 10 years behind bars after pleading no contest to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving with a suspended license, and driving while under the influence.
The defendant was emotional during her sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by Fresno-based ABC affiliate KFSN.
Calderon reportedly asked her defense attorney to read from a letter in lieu of addressing the court herself.
“I tried so hard not to cry,” public defender Alena Chaps read, the TV station reported. “Not because I don’t feel remorse, but I felt that I didn’t deserve to be the one to cry.”
Impact statements were also made.
The victim’s widow was one of many loved ones who addressed the court rife with loss and grief on Monday.
“We are functioning, but we are sad,” Janice Nazaroff said during the hearing. “My kids (and) my grandkids are my everything. Jeff is not here with me to be a part of it. His family re-created. It is only with God’s help I’ll be able to crawl forward.”
The incident occurred as the victim, who had the right of way, was driving a dump truck past the corner of Church Avenue and Brawley Avenue southwest of the Fresno city limits.
Jeff Nazaroff was a mere 1,000-or-so feet away from parking his truck in the company yard when he was instantly killed by Calderon on that horrible, fateful day, according to The Fresno Bee.
Calderon was driving a Jeep Wrangler. The defendant’s vehicle was traveling with such speed and force that the impact sent the dump truck directly into a tree in a nearby residential front yard.
“The Jeep broadsided the truck,” California Highway Patrol officer Sean Duncan said at the time of the tragic, but avoidable, accident.
In her letter, Calderon acknowledged that alcohol ruined her life and took another entirely, according to a courtroom report by the Bee.
“I am trying to make a new path for myself so that I don’t become a statistic,” Chaps read. “My deepest condolences to the family. I just pray Jeff’s family and your honor have mercy.”
The state countered the mercy plea by musing that Calderon should have tried to fix herself quite a bit earlier — while bidding for her to serve the longest sentence allowed, the paper reported.
“She should have made an adjustment in her life then,” prosecutor Christopher Moss reportedly said. “But instead of making a positive decision she doubled down and continued to drink and drive while impaired. And that resulted in the death of Mr. Nazaroff.”
The quick succession of drunk driving arrests in 2022 likely saved the defendant from the prospect of a potential life sentence.
Had Calderon been convicted on the earlier drunk-driving charges, prosecutors could have asked the court to sentence her to life for killing the victim during a repeat DUI offense.
“Your life could have gone one of two ways,” the judge said, the Bee reported. “If you had made a different choice we would not be here.”
The Nazaroffs had three sons.
Their youngest died in a car crash roughly 16 years ago.
