The 49-year-old man whose alcohol- and drug-fueled barreling down Holm Avenue ended in a crash into a duplex unit and the deaths of a mother and three daughters in June 2019 was sentenced to 120 years to life in prison.
The sentence was handed down Friday by Judge Nancy Leo.
Felix Ferdin, 49, of Ceres, was convicted in May of four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the deaths of Mari Luz Jacinto Hernandez and her children, Yoseline Vega, 10, Eileen Lopez Jacinto, 5, and Alexa Sanchez, 3.
Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Larissa A. Jones prosecuted the case.
Following a seven-day trial, a jury found Ferdin guilty of four counts of second-degree murder as well as four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled, but is likely to take place next month. Ferdin is facing a maximum sentence of 120 years to life in state prison.
On June 9, 2019, Ferdin invited others to a barbeque at his home where he consumed approximately seven beers. He later became enraged and told attendees: “I don’t care. I’m gonna die. I don’t care about nobody.” Ferdin got into his 2007 Chevy Equinox SUV and drove off with a blood alcohol content nearly twice the legal limit as well as metabolites for methamphetamine and cocaine in his blood.
As Ferdin drove off at 1:32 a.m., he hit a parked vehicle and came close to hitting another. Ferdin left the scene and gunned his vehicle down Holm Avenue just outside of the Ceres city limits. He shot past the stop sign at Musick Avenue and Holm Avenue and sped down Holm Avenue at 78 mph toward the intersection of Holm Avenue and Herndon Road. At approximately 35 mph Ferdin crashed his vehicle into a fence and the side of the Sam Avenue duplex rented by Mari Luz Jacinto Hernandez, punching a hole through the outside wall of the bedroom where she and her three daughters were asleep. The impact killed all four.
Ferdin attempted to back his vehicle out of the damaged structure but couldn’t and was held by bystanders as he attempted to walked away.
Ceres Police officers, firefighters, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies, Modesto Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol responded to the scene to assist in rescue efforts and pull the victims from the rubble and debris in the bedroom. Hernandez, Eileen and Alexa were unable to be resuscitated. Yoseline was flown to UC Davis Medical Center where she survived for approximately a week before succumbing to her severe injuries.
