Utah County man sentenced to 1 month in jail in death of police sergeant

Published: Wednesday, June 8, 2011 5:18 p.m. MDT

RICHFIELD, Sevier County â€" A Saratoga Springs man pleaded guilty Tuesday to his part in the car accident that left a Sevier County sheriff's sergeant dead. 

Corbin Mander, 19, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, in connection with the April 29, 2010, death of Sevier County Sheriff's Sgt. Franco Aguilar. He was immediately sentenced to 30 days in jail and 18 months probation by 6th District Judge Marvin Bagley. He was also ordered to pay $500 in restitution.

Sevier County Attorney Dale Eyre said Mander has "taken responsibility from the beginning" and met with both Eyre and Aguilar's wife, Jamie, to work out the resolution to his case. He said the terms of the plea were suggested by Jamie Aguilar, including a requirement that Mander give "30 high school presentations before Oct. 30, 2011, concerning the accident, (Mander's) negligence and the aftermath." 

"Ms. Aguilar suggested the terms of the plea agreement as a way to prevent other officers' families from having to go through the same thing," Eyre said.

Aguilar, who turned 36 just days before he was killed, died while responding to a traffic accident on I-70 on the Fish Creek Bridge, where a vehicle driven by a woman from Grand Junction, Colo., slid on the icy road into a concrete barrier.

While assisting the woman in that accident, a Chevrolet Suburban with three occupants inside, including the then-18-year-old Mander, also lost control on the slick road at the same spot and crashed head-on into the first vehicle, a Toyota Camry.

The Suburban hit the car and pushed it into Aguilar, who was then thrown off the bridge and fell 103 feet to his death.

Originally police were unsure whether Aguilar was hit and thrown or if he jumped to get out of the way, but after studying tire marks and car paint remnants on Aguilar's clothes, they concluded he was pushed off after being hit by the Camry.

Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis said Mander was driving around 76 mph when he struck the car, which was 6 mph over the speed limit.

It took almost a year for charges to be filed in the case and Curtis previously attributed this to the emotion of the case.

â€" Emiley Morgan, Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam