The last time Desirea Whitney saw her 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son, she was putting them in a car after a supervised visit Feb. 28.
Less than 40 minutes later, she learned they were killed and their 5-year-old sister was seriously injured in a head-on crash on Interstate 82.
While the man who crashed into the car carrying the children will spend 20 years in prison, Whitney said it is not justice.
"It will never sit right with me," Whitney told Yakima County Superior Court Judge Sonia Rodriguez True at Wednesday's plea/sentencing hearing for Keith Andrew Goings.
Originally charged with two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular assault and a single count of eluding police, Goings pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide as well as the vehicular assault and eluding charges after prosecutors dropped the murder charges in a plea agreement.
Goings admitted to driving in a reckless manner and hitting the car driven by Maurillo "Danny" Trejo, killing Delilah Minshew, 8, and Timothy Escamilla, 6, and injuring Trejo and the children's 5-year-old sister.
The crash was also part of the debate on a bill at the Washington Legislature that gives police more leeway to engage in high-speed pursuits. Critics of the 2021 law restricting police pursuits cited it as a factor in Goings' crime.
Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Fisher told Rodriguez True that Goings led several Washington State Patrol troopers on an "on-and-off" 86-mile high-speed chase on two Interstate highways before the crash.
A State Patrol trooper first spotted Goings, a 21-year-old Springfield, Mo., resident, driving a Ford Mustang east on Interstate 90 near Thorp on the evening of Feb. 28, initially clocking him at 104 mph. When the trooper tried to stop Goings, he sped up to 111, and the trooper broke off the pursuit.
Another trooper spotted Goings and tried to stop him at the I-82 interchange, but also broke off the pursuit. Multiple troopers attempted to stop Goings as he drove through Yakima County at speeds reaching 120 mph, only to break off pursuits because the law at the time, enacted as part of a 2021 police reform package, required police officers to have probable cause that they were pursuing a violent-crime suspect.
A Sunnyside police officer spotted Goings at a convenience store and tried to stop him, but Goings again took off, and headed eastbound in the westbound lanes of Interstate 82, where he collided with Trejo's car. The Sunnyside police officer also broke off pursuit.
Off-duty Bellingham police officers were the first on the scene and attempted with other first responders to help the victims, Fisher told the court, but Delilah and Timothy had died on impact.
Goings, whom police said was laughing when he was removed from his car, tested positive for THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, but Fisher said his level was just below the legal limit for intoxication.
As part of the plea agreement, Fisher and defense attorney Erin McAleer recommended a 20-year sentence — six years more than the maximum for vehicular homicide based on Going's lack of felony convictions — on each vehicular homicide count to be served concurrently with the nearly five-year sentence on each vehicular assault count and the 18 months for eluding.
"Ultimately, your honor, regardless of what we do here today, nothing is going to change what happened on Feb. 28. The court does not have power to return those who were lost back to life, it does not have the power to return the futures that were taken. Nor do we have the power to heal the wounds suffered by the victims and the families in this case," Fisher said. "What the court does have the power to do, your honor, is to provide justice. The agreed recommendation to this court is not only in the interest of but delivers that justice."
Family and friends of the victims were in the gallery in the courtroom wearing green and purple ribbons or beads, the favorite colors of Delilah and Timothy.
Whitney, who was helped by a family friend to read her statement to the court, said she had to go to the crash site to learn that her children were dead.
"They say it happened too fast that my babies didn't even see the headlights of the man sitting here today driving that vehicle" Whitney's statement said. "That is a lie. I waked into that funeral home and I saw my son's face, he looked frightened, a look that I will never be able to erase."
Whitney said she will never get to see her children reach important milestones in life such as going to prom, graduating high school or falling in love and starting a family. Her surviving daughter must live with the trauma of seeing her siblings die.
Charlie Whitney, the children's uncle, had harsh words for Goings.
"I hope he never lives a happy life again," Charlie Whitney said. "He ripped my heart out."
Maria Trejo, Trejo's mother, said her son feels responsible for the children's deaths, even though he knows it was not his fault.
"We are fortunate that we have our son with us, but we struggle because two kids under his care are not with us," Maria Trejo said.
Goings, who had sat looking straight ahead throughout the hearing, offered a brief apology when given the opportunity to speak.
"I'm truly sorry for what has happened," Goings said. "I will learn."
McAleer acknowledged the irreversible trauma his client inflicted on the victims and their families, but said Goings had taken responsibility for what he called an "impulsive" act by accepting the plea and a lengthy prison sentence.
"He made a bad choice, a terribly bad choice that he did not contemplate," McAleer said, adding that studies have found that human brains do not fully develop until the person's 20s, making them more prone to irrational acts.
But Rodriguez True disagreed with McAleer on that point.
"I don't think this was an impulsive decision on (Goings) part," Rodriguez True said. "I think you started off well before this accident, this fatality occurred. You started off miles and miles before that. Several police officers tried to stop you. You outran several police officers."
She said what happened was "unexplainable," and hoped that Goings would use his time in prison to focus on how to improve himself and ensure that he never does anything like this again.
"You know why you did it, and I hope you come to terms with yourself," Rodriguez True said.
Rodriguez True said she would follow the recommendation as it was a "fair and just result for a difficult and tragic, unfortunate, ugly, just terrible situation."
