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Couple Who Killed USC Student In Hit-And-Run Receive Maximum Sentence

Jessika Walsten |
May 24, 2010 | 2:40 p.m. PDT

Associate News Editor

Carmen Bachan, the mother of the USC student killed in a hit-and-run,
addresses reporters at a court hearing last year. (Anant Goenka)

A judge delivered the maximum sentence Monday to Claudia Cabrera and Josue Luna for a crash that killed USC student Adrianna Bachan and left Marcus Garfinkle, also a USC student, seriously injured last year.

Cabrera, who drove the car, was sentenced to eight years in prison while Luna, Cabrera's husband, received seven years for his involvement in the crash.

Authorities say Bachan and Garfinkle were returning from a party when the Infiniti sedan Cabrera was driving ran a red light and struck them as they crossed Jefferson Boulevard at Hoover Street.

Bachan, who was 18, died of massive head injuries. Garfinkle, then 19, suffered multiple injuries, which included two broken legs, after the sedan dragged him as far as 400 feet

Garfinkle emotionally testified at the sentencing, "I will never forget waking up on the side of the street, covered in blood, naked."   

The sentence comes nearly two months after Cabrera and Luna both pleaded "no contest" to a felony charge of hit-and-run resulting in great bodily injury. Cabrera also pleaded "no contest" to a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.

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