Driver sentenced in DWI crash that killed woman, infant son

A Bacliff woman was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a mother and her 3-month-old son in February 2018.

Veronica Rivas, now 21, will serve two concurrent 18-year sentences after pleading guilty to two counts of intoxication manslaughter in the deaths of Shayla Joseph, 36, and her infant son, Braylan. The slain woman’s husband, Bryan, delivered an emotional victim impact statement during the sentencing, declaring a personal mission to rekindle the movement against drunken driving.

“Veronica, what did you think was going to happen after you altered your brain with chemicals?” he asked. “You gambled with others’ (lives) and lost.”