Drunk driver admits to killing Kerman man in head-on crash in 2017

Wednesday, March 18, 2020
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A man admitted Tuesday to driving drunk and killing another driver on a foggy morning in January 2017.

Fifty-nine-year-old Andres Garza died when a Chevy pickup hit his Honda Accord head-on at Jensen and Chateau Fresno Avenue.
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Prosecutors initially charged Jose Antonio Montano with murder because he had a .10 blood alcohol content and a prior DUI conviction in 2007.

They dropped the murder charge as the trial was set to start in exchange for a plea deal that will get Montano about the same amount of time in prison.
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Garza's family was on board with the decision by the Fresno County district attorney's office because they were more concerned with closure than a life sentence with the same likely time served.

A judge is now scheduled to give Montano his punishment in May.
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