Jacob Williams, 21, of Rio Communities, was sentenced this week to six years in prison for killing Quin Sanchez, who was riding his motorcycle south on N.M. 47 on Aug. 27, 2006, and severely injuring Sanchez's friend, Mary Ann Madrid, who was riding behind, the Valencia County News-Bulletin reported.

In November, Williams pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide, great bodily injury by vehicle and driving while intoxicated, the News-Bulletin said.

According to police reports, Williams was driving a van west on Goodman in Rio Communities, failed to stop at the intersection with N.M. 47 and struck the motorcycle, the paper said.

Sanchez was pronounced dead at the scene, and Madrid, who was thrown from the motorcycle, was severely injured and is now paralyzed as a result of the accident, the News-Bulletin reported.

Madrid, who was in a wheelchair at the sentencing on Tuesday, told state District Judge William Sanchez that she has finally been able to forgive Williams but her scars and surgical pins she now has from head to toe will never allow her to forget, the paper said.

"I lost a friend. I lost the use of my legs. I lost a life that I was happily in," Madrid told the judge. "And for what? Is a few drinks worth taking two innocent lives? Quin didn't deserve this, and we sure didn't ask for it."

Williams apologized to the victims and their families in a letter read Tuesday by his attorney, Laurel Carrier, saying he didn't intend to drink and drive that day but thought he was in a better position to drive than his passenger, the News-Bulletin said.

"I did not think one beer would impair my judgment, and for that, I am sorry," wrote Williams, who said he is consumed by guilt and remorse but was not making excuses and is willing to take the consequences, the paper reported. 

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