A Hialeah teenager was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday in connection with the deaths of three women in April of 2024.
In February, Maykoll Santiesteban, 16, pleaded guilty in the case. He might have faced 28 to 65 years in prison.
“He is still young; remember he is just a child,” Maykoll’s father, Reynel Santiesteban, told the judge at Tuesday’s hearing, pleading for leniency.
On April 23, 2024, police reported Santiesteban, then 15, was driving approximately 55 mph over the speed limit in his father’s car when he collided with a parked vehicle in the 400 block of Southeast Fifth Street.
The police pronounced Yarnia Garcia Hernandez, 39, and her aunt, Gloria Hernandez, 53, dead at the scene.
Liliana Hernandez Molina, Hernandez’s 66-year-old mother, died of injuries in September.
Gipsy Garcia, a victim’s relative, told Santiesteban, “We not only lost three lives that day, but you also took away our sense of peace.”
In February, Santiesteban pled guilty in Miami-Dade court to three counts of vehicular homicide and driving without a license resulting in death.
The kid, prosecuted as an adult, entered his plea without knowing his penalty.
In addition to his prison sentence, Santiesteban will serve 15 years on probation and will be barred from driving for that time.
“I pray that this is just a mistake you made and that it does not define your life,” Miami-Dade Judge Christine Hernandez remarked.
