A white Long Island
, New York, woman was given probation August 6 after pleading guilty to fatally running over anti-gang activist Evelyn Rodriguez, who was at a memorial for her teenage daughter, in 2018.According to CBS News, 63-year-old Ann Marie Drago was sentenced to five years of probation, although the district attorney suggested she receive three years in prison.
She pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide after being tried twice. In the first trial, she was found guilty, but the verdict was overturned. The second trial ended in a hung jury. In the court’s ruling, it was intimated that Drago had suffered enough.During the sentence announcement earlier this month, Rodriguez’s family wept. Drago showed no emotion.
“We didn’t get the justice that we was looking for, as far as that’s considered,” Freddy Cuevas, the father of Rodriguez’s slain daughter, said. “Her getting probation, that’s like a slap on the hand.”
Drago ran over Rodriguez during a memorial for Rodriguez’s 16-year-old daughter, Kayla, who was killed by MS-13 gang members in 2016.
At the time of the incident, Drago was
trying to sell her mother’s house and was scared that the memorial would deter potential buyers. She was accused of trashing the memorial hours before it was scheduled to take place. When Cuevas and Rodriguez confronted Drago about what she had done while she was in her car, she allegedly stepped on the accelerator, fatally striking Rodriguez.Drago claimed it was a tragic accident.
“I just felt sorrow for my daughters because of the pain they are going through,” Cuevas said. “Evelyn was considered a great advocate for the community.”
He also pointed out that Drago eventually must answer for her actions.
“She’s going to be free,” he said. “She’s going to be living her life, but judgment day will come one day.”