A Florida man who caused a deadly hit-and-run that killed a 4-year-old girl and injured another dozen was sentenced to 40 years in prison, the Daily News reported on Friday.
Robert Corchado caused a crash that sent another driver's vehicle into a day care wall in April, then he ran off. He was recently released from jail for a drug arrest and doing a hit-and-run. Lily Quintus, 4, died shortly after and 11 other children were injured.
Tragedy has struck Lily's family before: her grandmother, Nicole Quintis, lost a sister in the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack. The two combined have devastated her, but she described Lily's death as a completely unforgivable tragedy.
"I can hate for the first time in my life, because now the joy of my life has been taken away," she told the court, Quintus said.
Jon Jeffrey Straube said his 4-year-old daughter was Lily's friend and classmate, and is now plagued by nightmares and asks morbid questions about death.
"She lost her innocence that day when a car crashed into her classroom ... saw things most people are fortunate enough never to see," he said, the Orlando Sentinel reported. "In all likelihood, this tragedy will haunt my child for the rest of her life."
But Corchado's family described him as good-hearted, but flawed man.
Ashley Hunsinger, Corchado's wife and mother their three children, said that her husband deserves a proper place to get better and given a second chance at life. But she offered her condolences to everyone effected by the accident.
"I can honestly say that Robert has one of the biggest hearts of any man I've ever met," said Hunsinger, who wept throughout her testimony. Her brother called Corchado "a great dad" and "truly amazing friend."
Corchado's lawyer, Daniel Tumarkin, pushed for a shorter, 30 year sentence. He said it was purely and accident, and that his client didn't mean to hurt anyone.
