The mother of a teen who died when the car in which she was riding slammed head-on into a tree doesn’t want her daughter’s killer to get off easy.
“He flat out murdered my baby girl!” exclaimed Gina Lance, mother of the victim, Ashlyn Barnes, who was killed in the May 9, 2013 crash off Vervilla Road. “I don’t want him getting a plea deal. I want him to have to stand trial so all the facts come out. He killed my daughter.”
The defendant, Ramiro R. Ibarra, now 20, is free on bond awaiting his appearance before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley on Wednesday morning. During today's appearance, Lance believes prosecutors will offer him one year in jail for the death of her daughter and the serious injuries sustained by his other three passengers.
Ibarra, who was 19 at the time of the wreck, is charged with vehicular homicide for the death of Barnes, 17, who was killed when Ibarra’s Chevy Blazer slammed into a tree while he was apparently off-roading in a field off Vervilla Road last year. He is also charged with vehicular assault for injuries suffered by fellow passengers Amber Bates, 17, Geoffrey Washom, 20, and Holden Nunley, 19.
Investigators believe he was under the influence of drugs when he intentionally drove his SUV into a farm field off Vervilla Road and began off-roading. Wreck reonstructionists point to the fact Ibarra passed through an open gate in the dark field as proof he was under control of his vehicle when he drove into the pasture. They doubt his claims he was run off the road.
Investigators noted his Blazer traveled 1,920 feet from the road to the tree, giving him plenty of time to stop. Lawmen point out Ibarra was traveling with enough speed to uproot the tree.
“She didn’t stand a chance,” Lance said, noting her daughter was sitting on the side of the vehicle that took the direct impact with the tree. “She didn’t die immediately. She suffered."
She believes Ibarra should have been charged with murder given his actions.
“He never used his brakes during the three football field lengths he drove after leaving the road,” Lance said, noting there is more to the crime than has been brought out. “I want the judge to hear all the facts and the driver be punished according to those facts,” Lance said. “I want him and his supporting family to hear the details that play in my mind over and over every day. The facts of exactly what he did.”
Lance has generated a 1,000-signature petition asking the court to reject the proposed plea agreement. She said she will be in court to voice her opposition to settling the case. She wants Ibarra to stand trial on his Oct. 29 trial date.
“All I’m getting is the run-around,” Lance said of the prosecutor’s office. “I buried my child on Mother’s Day and now I’m having to fight to make sure her killer gets justice. Something’s not right.”