Guatemalan man gets 3½ years in DUI death in Chesterfield

An illegal immigrant from Guatemala was sentenced to 3½ years in prison yesterday for killing a Chesterfield County woman in a drunken-driving crash that left the victim pinned against the side of a convenience store.

Circuit Judge Michael C. Allen sentenced Alberto Candino Bamaca, 39, to a total of 21 years but suspended 17½ years of that term on convictions of involuntary manslaughter, felony hit-and-run driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Bamaca pleaded guilty to the offenses Jan. 12.

In meting out punishment, the judge sentenced Bamaca to slightly less prison time than the maximum recommended under state sentencing guidelines, which called for a low of one year and five months in prison to a high of three years and nine months.

"It was a terrible death," Allen said of the Aug. 2 crash.

But he noted that Bamaca did not intend to kill Carol A. Cooper, 53, a long-distance truck driver and grandmother of three who just had finished writing her first novel.

The judge weighed the fact that Bamaca had no prior criminal record or any known problems with drug or alcohol abuse, with evidence that he fled the scene.

According to evidence, Bamaca was driving drunk at about 11:40 p.m. Aug. 2 when he pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store at Jefferson Davis Highway and Dundas Road. While apparently attempting to park, Bamaca jumped the curb and struck Cooper, pinning her between his minivan and the side of the building, prosecutor Dennis Duncan said.

Bamaca then jumped out of the vehicle and ran. Cooper died at the scene.

Duncan said that when police tracked Bamaca down at his apartment, he tried to flee out the rear when officers arrived to arrest him.

Defense attorney Jose Aponte acknowledged that Bamaca fled, but he said the Guatemala native was frightened.

A state forensic toxicologist testified that Bamaca had a blood-alcohol concentration of between 0.16 percent and 0.24 percent at the time of the crash -- two to three times the legal limit.

Katharine Mayo, Cooper's only daughter, and George Manolatos, Cooper's fiancé, said they were troubled that Bamaca won't spent more time behind bars and that he committed the crime while living here illegally. Authorities say he will be deported after serving his sentence.

Mayo said Cooper, who enjoyed poetry, music and writing, had stopped at the convenience store on the night she was killed to pick up a few items before watching Mayo's three children, ages 9, 12 and 14. She had planned to marry Manolatos, with whom she had a 12-year relationship.

"Carol was a person who loved life and wrote about love and hope in her stories," Manolatos wrote in his victim-impact statement. "She loved to travel and worked with me as my co-driver for over six years driving a tractor-trailer. When I think of all the experiences we shared together and all our dreams and plans, I can't help but become depressed."

"My memories are now tainted as they are a constant reminder of the way she died."

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .