Blake Garza, 20, and Naomi Harry, 18, planned to build a life together once she finished high school.
Garza, who dreamed of working as a personal trainer, was driving Harry home from the gym the night of March 27, 2024, when they were struck by an SUV in the intersection of Spur 327 and Milwaukee Avenue.
Harry died at the scene and Garza was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center, where he died.
The couple’s lives were cut short by a man who made the choice that night to drink and drive, robbing them of milestones they had yet to achieve and memories they yet had to share, said Sherry Collins, Garza’s mother, as she sat in the 137th District Court.
“There is an emptiness that can never be filled,” Collins said. “I wake up every day knowing I will never hear his voice again, never see his smile, never get another hug from my son … This is a life sentence of grief that you chose for me.”
Manslaughter guilty plea in Lubbock County court
Moments before, 32-year-old Anthony Glen Washington was sentenced to 40 years in prison after admitting to causing the crash that killed the couple.
He held down his head as he listened to Collin and Summer Harry, Naomi’s mother, give their victim impact statements.
“Blake was more than just my son — he was my heart,” Collins said. “He had a way of bringing light into every room he walked into … Blake deserved better. He deserved to grow up, to live fully and to be here with us today. He deserved to be a husband and a dad and all the things you have been able to be.”
Washington, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since March 28, 2024, appeared Tuesday in the 137th District Court with his attorney, Phil Johnson, and pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, which typically carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
However, prosecutors used Washington’s 2015 robbery conviction out of Tarrant County that exposed him to a punishment range of five years to life in prison.
As part of his plea, he was sentenced to two, 40-year prison sentences that will run concurrently.
A deadly weapon finding in his case requires Washington to serve half of his prison sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Washington accepted the plea offer from the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office a week before his trial.
“I can’t speak for the defendant, but I believe he recognized that there was a good chance that he could potentially get a life sentence if he went to trial,” said prosecutor Greg Jerman.
He said the 40-year prison sentence he offered Washington spared Garza’s and Harry’s families from the ordeal of a trial while punishing Washington for his “extremely” reckless conduct and sending a message to other people about the consequences of drinking and driving.
“Hopefully a sentence like this will help to protect the community,” he said.
Investigating a deadly drunken crash in southwest Lubbock
Washington’s case stems from a Lubbock police crash investigation that began about 9:52 p.m. after patrol officers responded to a collision between a passenger car and an SUV near the intersection of Spur 327 and Milwaukee Avenue, according to a police news release.
Responding officers found Garza and Harry in a passenger car. Harry died at the scene and Garza was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center where he died, the release states.
Meanwhile, Washington, who was driving the SUV, suffered minor injury, the release states.
Investigators believe Washington was traveling south in the 6000 block of Milwaukee Avenue, sped up as he entered the intersection on a red light before colliding with Garza and Harry, who were traveling eastbound on the Spur 327 access road, Jerman said.
“(Washington) was going 71 mph at that point,” he said.
Responding officers also found evidence that Washington was intoxicated that night, Jerman said.
At the scene, one of the responding officers noted the smell of alcohol on Washington’s breath, according to a police report.
Washington’s speech was also slurred and his eyes were slightly glassy and bloodshot, the report states.
Inside Washington’s vehicle, the officer found multiple empty 12-ounce beer bottles.
An officer began a field sobriety test, however, Washington unable to follow an officer’s instructions.
Meanwhile, Washington became upset after learning that the people in the vehicle he hit died and struggled with officers trying to handcuff him.
A handful of fire fighters joined the struggle to apprehend Washington who laid on his hands to avoid being restrained.
Washington was arrested that night on two counts of intoxication manslaughter and a count of resisting arrest.
A Lubbock County grand jury returned an indictment against him, charging him with two counts of manslaughter.
Washington was also out on bond on a driving while intoxicated case out of Brownfield five months earlier. In that case, police there stopped him for speeding and provided a sample of his breath which showed an alcohol concentration of between .122 and .130. The legal threshold in the state is .08.
“There were some other incidents that we planned on proving up in (the punishment phase of the trial) that in addition to that criminal history we believe would have justified a high (penitentiary) sentence at trial,” Jerman said.
About a month after his arrest in Brownfield, Washington posted a video depicting him reportedly driving a vehicle with three passengers as they sang. The words, “Drunk (on the way) to Denny’s” was on the video.
Summer Harry told Washington that the punishment he accepted was “merely minor consequences for the catastrophic event that happened.”
She told Washington she hoped he uses his time in prison to reflect on his actions and walk a different path in life.
“It’s not lost on me that on that night you ruined your life as well as ours,” she said.
However, she told Washington that he still had a chance to reunite with his family someday – an opportunity that’s denied to her and Garza’s family.
“The only hope that our families can possibly have is to be reunited when we pass from this life to the next,” she said.
However, Harry leaned into her faith and offered Washington her forgiveness, encouraging him to turn his life to God.
“He is able to forgive you, even from this horrible moment, and because he can forgive, I forgive you,” she said. “I would like to see you in heaven where all will be made right. But that is a choice only you can choose and God can help you with that.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Mother shares grief, forgiveness to man guilty in deadly drunken crash
Reporting by Gabriel Monte, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
