ST. GEORGE — A Washington City woman has been sentenced to prison for charges related to a crash on state Route 9 in Hurricane that killed a man last summer.
Melissa Miner, 41, appeared before District Judge Jay Winward to be sentenced on one second-degree felony count of negligently operating a motor vehicle that resulted in death, along with two misdemeanor counts of negligently operating a vehicle that caused injury during a hearing held Sept. 19 in 5th District Court in St. George. Originally scheduled for Oct. 10, the sentencing hearing was moved up when the defendant told the judge she was ready to be sentenced on two cases, which included a felony drug distribution case filed 14 months after the fatal crash.
The crash
On July 1, 2022, a three-vehicle crash occurred near the corner of 3900 W. State Street in Hurricane. Authorities said Miner was driving a Hyundai west along SR-9 when she crossed over the median and slammed into an eastbound Toyota pickup truck.
The Hyundai then struck a Mazda SUV trailing behind the pickup, as reported by St. George News.
The driver of the pickup truck, Deliberto A. Pablo-Cruz, 23, of St. George, died in the crash, while the two passengers were injured and transported to St. George Regional Hospital. The two occupants in the Mazda, a 31-year-old driver and her 2-month-old infant, also were transported to the hospital.
Miner was injured and transported by ambulance. She was taken into surgery shortly after arriving at the hospital.
What followed was a six-month investigation by the Utah State Bureau of Investigation and the reconstruction team. According to a witness statement, investigators say, Miner was weaving in and out of traffic on SR-9. When they pulled up alongside Miner at a traffic light on State Street and 3700 West, Miner was reportedly looking at a cellphone.
After the light turned green, Miner continued driving east for another two blocks and then veered across the median into oncoming traffic where her vehicle struck the pickup head-on, the report states.
On the day of the crash, investigators say medical staff found a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine in Miner’s clothing, and a background check revealed she was on pre-trial release in connection with several open drug cases.
On Jan. 9, the charges were filed and Miner was arrested and booked into Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility where she was held on $10,000 bail. Miner was released on Jan. 24, after posting a bond.
With the case bound for trial, Miner appeared for a resolution hearing on Aug. 15 and pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony negligent homicide charge and the two misdemeanor counts, while the remaining charges were dismissed.
Drug arrest comes 10 days after guilty plea
Ten days after pleading guilty in the negligent homicide case, Miner was arrested following a traffic stop on Aug. 25, when officers received a report of a suspicious vehicle at a gas station on Pioneer Road in St. George.
Police spotted the vehicle shortly thereafter and found Miner in the passenger seat. The driver was arrested on a drug charge after officers reportedly found 2 ounces of suspected meth.
Later, corrections staff at the jail searched Miner and recovered suspected meth, along with a number of alleged fentanyl pills and suspected black tar heroin — the amount of which led to a distribution charge. She was charged with second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, along with three third-degree felony charges of drug possession within a correctional facility.
Miner appeared for a resolution hearing on the drug case on Sept. 19, during which she pleaded guilty to the distribution charge, along with two of the third-degree felony drug charges. She also told the judge she was waiving sentencing on the drug charges.
Both cases combined for sentencing
During the Sept. 19 hearing, both the fatal DUI case and the felony drug cases were combined for the purpose of sentencing and the October hearing was canceled. The state was represented by Prosecutor Jerry Jaeger, who said they would be recommending the defendant be sent to prison and asked that the sentences run concurrently.
Miner’s defense attorney Larry Meyers told the court that he recommended to his client that she wait to be sentenced in October, but ultimately, it was the defendant’s decision to be sentenced on both cases that day.
District Judge Jay Winward addressed the defendant by asking, “Ms. Miner, are you ready to go to prison today?”
To which the defendant said, “Yes, I am.”
On the negligent homicide case for the fatal crash, the judge sentenced her to serve 1-15 years in Utah State Prison on the second-degree felony charge, along with 364 days in jail on each of the misdemeanors. The jail sentences were ordered to run concurrent with one another, but consecutive to the prison sentence, and all sentences were ordered to be served at the prison. That means that Miner would serve out the 364-day sentence before the 1-15 years would begin.
On the drug case, Winward sentenced the defendant to serve 1-15 years in prison and 0-5 years in prison on the two third-degree felony charges. He also ordered the sentences to run concurrently with the sentences ordered in the first case.
She was given credit for time served, but the amount of credit will be determined by the Board of Pardons and Parole, the judge said. The transport order was signed at the close of the hearing.
Shortly after the sentencing hearing, Miner was transported to the Utah State Correctional Facility just outside Salt Lake City to begin serving out her sentence, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.