Jan. 6 Rioter Pardoned By Trump Sentenced For DUI Crash That Killed Mom Of 2

Yahoo

30-01-2025

A Missouri woman who stole Nancy Pelosi's name plate during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump, was sentenced days later for an unrelated DUI crash that killed a mom of two.
Emily Hernandez, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday and will serve a concurrent 7-year sentence for a Jan. 5, 2022, wrong-way crash that killed 32-year-old Victoria Wilson and seriously injured her husband, Ryan Wilson, NBC affiliate KSDK reported.
Hernandez 'chose her actions that night and she chose wrong over and over and over again,' Victoria Wilson's niece Desirae Raymo told the outlet after the sentencing. 'I don't feel any amount [of time] she will serve will bring her back, it won't rectify her actions. I hope she can change and be a better person.'
Ethan B. Corlija, Hernandez's attorney, told HuffPost in an email that Hernandez 'will be eligible for early release under the guidelines used by the Missouri Department of Corrections.'
Hernandez first made headlines a year before the crash when federal authorities charged her with storming the U.S. Capitol and stealing Nancy Pelosi's name plate, valued at $870, according to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost.
Federal authorities apprehended Hernandez after three individuals identified her in a clip from the U.K.-based news network ITV News. In the footage, Hernandez can be seen holding up a broken piece of a sign and a white manila envelope.
Several tipsters submitted photographs and videos to federal authorities from Hernandez's social media depicting her at the Capitol and wearing the same clothing items, according to the complaint.
According to court records, Hernandez was charged with several misdemeanors. She pleaded guilty to one count of entering a restricted building and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, plus probation.
A year later, the deadly crash took place on a highway in Franklin County, Missouri. Hernandez pleaded guilty to driving on the wrong side of the road and slamming into the Wilsons' car, according to a sentencing memorandum obtained by HuffPost. She was taken to a local hospital where her blood alcohol was recorded as being .125.
Corlija, her attorney, wrote in the memo that Hernandez showed she had come to terms with the fact that she 'took someone's life.'
'I live with that shame every day,' Hernandez reportedly told her probation officer. 'Right after it happened and I was home from the hospital, I was in my bed and realized I changed these people's lives forever.'
Angelia Ortiz, Victoria Wilson's older sister, launched a GoFundMe to offset Ryan Wilson's medical bills and support the couple's two children.
At Wednesday's sentencing hearing, Victoria Wilson's mother, Tonie Donaldson, told KSDK about the impact Hernandez's actions have had on the family.
'Nothing will bring her back. We have an empty hole in my heart that will always be there,' Donaldson told KSDK. 'It was some relief to be able to turn and look her in her eyes and tell her how much harm she had really done to us... that's a choice she made, she has to live with it.'
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