Michael Talbot sentenced to 15 years for killing 2 pedestrians with his car in Stamford, Conn.
STAMFORD, Conn. - Words of recrimination and remorse filled a courtroom Wednesday as a Greenwich man was sentenced for striking and killing two pedestrians with his car.
Almost 500 days later, a memorial still marks the spot where two innocent lives were taken, and many more were changed forever, including two little boys who lost their dad.
"My kids will no longer have that daddy time, and that love that everyone gets from their dad," Maria Garrido said.
Michael Talbot, 25, sat a few feet away, his eyes moist with tears. Talbot was drunk, high and traveling at 86 mph in Dec. '22 in a $100,000 car when he struck and killed coworkers Giovani Vega and Yuliana Arias as they crossed Washington Boulevard.
After striking the victims, Talbot didn't call 911. He didn't even stay at the scene to accept the consequences of his actions. Instead, he abandoned his car and ran. Police found him hiding behind a shed.
Sentencing featured heartwrenching testimony from people who loved the victims.
"They did not deserve to be left dead," Garrido said.
"She was my life. She was my happiness. She was my tranquility," Arias' mother Josefina Lozano said.
"I don't wish anything bad upon you. I really don't. I just want you to understand all the pain that you've caused this family," Vega's cousin Ruth Sanchez said.
Talbot, a father of a young child himself, said his remorse is deep.
"I will forever be sorry for the beautiful lives I've taken from this earth, and I'm not sure how I'll ever truly be able to forgive myself. I can't stand the thought of my son not having his father there for birthdays, holidays, first day of school, many more occasions. I can only imagine what that is like for Giovani's sons," Talbot said.
The manslaughter plea deal called for Talbot to serve 15 years of a 20 year sentence, and that's what was imposed.
Vega's children, Giovani and Nicolas, left court too young to understand they're serving a sentence, too.
Judge Gary White said after watching surveillance video, he was tempted to impose a harsher sentence, but did not want to scuttle the plea deal. The video shows the victims being thrown more than 100 feet after impact.
