黑料福利社

A Sunnyside man has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for killing a teenager in a drunken-driving crash this past year.

Elias Nathaniel Ayala, 21, had pleaded guilty in April to vehicular homicide in the death of Anthony Guti茅rrez in a May 16, 2025, crash.

In return for his plea, prosecutors recommended the 78-month sentence, which was the bottom of the 6.5-to-8.5-year standard sentencing range based on the offense and his lack of prior felony convictions.

Yakima County Superior Court Judge Jared Boswell accepted the recommendation during a May 12 hearing. Ayala will receive credit for the six months he spent in the Yakima County jail before being released on pretrial supervision.

When he is released from prison, he will be required to equip any vehicle he operates with an ignition interlock device, not possess or consume alcohol and attend a DUI victim impact panel, where he will hear DUI victims recount how being hit by a drunk driver affected their lives.

Sunnyside police and the Washington State Patrol were called to a one-vehicle rollover on State Route 241 about 5 miles north of Sunnyside at 3:10 p.m. May 16, 2025. An arriving trooper found a vehicle off the southbound shoulder that had gone off the road, through a barbed wire fence, rolled over and was on fire, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Guti茅rrez, a Sunnyside resident, was pronounced dead at the scene, the affidavit said. An autopsy determined he died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

Two other people in the car, Jason D. Andrade, 17, and Jeffrey B. Hornbarger, 19, both of Sunnyside, were not injured, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.

A trooper interviewed Ayala, who had a strong odor of intoxicants on his breath, along with bloodshot, watery eyes, a flushed appearance and slurred speech, the affidavit said. He failed a voluntary field sobriety test and when he was put in a WSP vehicle, 鈥渢he odor of intoxicants overtook the inside of the patrol vehicle.鈥�

Ayala was taken to Prosser Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries and a blood sample that was sent to the state crime lab, the affidavit said. In his plea statement, Ayala said that his blood-alcohol content was 0.15, almost twice the legal limit for intoxication.