Lawyers to ask for probation for Wichita man convicted in passenger’s 2019 crash death
A 25-year-old Wichita man pleaded guilty Tuesday to an amended count of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence in a crash that killed his 21-year-old passenger three years ago, court records show.
In statements to police after the crash Victor Manuel Ibarra identified the passenger, Natalie Ibarra, as his wife, an affidavit released by a Sedgwick County judge says.
Wichita police found Natalie Ibarra’s body lying in the road at 26th Street North and Market shortly before 4 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2019. At the time of the crash, police said the Mazda 6 the couple had been in left the road, hit a utility pole and overturned on its roof. Natalie Ibarra was thrown from the car.
Authorities at the time said speed and alcohol usage played a role in the collision; officers found empty beer containers in and outside of the wrecked car and noted signs of intoxication when they spoke with Victor Ibarra at the crash scene, the affidavit says. A detective who performed a speed analysis estimated he was driving 60 mph when the crash happened, twice the posted speed limit on that residential street, the affidavit says.
When Ibarra talked to police later, he said before the crash he and Natalie had been at a friend’s house party and argued while they were parked in front of Natalie’s home in the 2300 block of North Market. Ibarra told police he started driving “so they could talk out the issue” and lost control of the car when he “took his eyes off the road” to grab onto Natalie after she said she wanted out and opened the door, according to the affidavit.
Initially, he told officers the crash happened after he had swerved to avoid hitting another vehicle, the affidavit says. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter in April, more than two years after Natalie died of what the coroner’s office determined were multiple blunt force injuries.
Ibarra is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 5 by Sedgwick County District Judge Seth Rundle, court records show. The presumptive sentence for an involuntary manslaughter while DUI conviction is 38-172 months. But attorneys plan to ask Rundle to put Ibarra on probation because he accepted responsibility, is remorseful, has engaged in treatment and due to “the totality of the consequences he has faced as a result of this crash,” his plea agreement says.
