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Left: Angelica Quintana (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Dennis Melton (Facebook).
An Alabama woman who told her boyfriend she was ready to “watch you die” and ran him over with her car will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Angelica Quintana, 31, was sentenced on Tuesday after being found guilty by a jury in February, three years after she was charged with murdering her boyfriend and the father of her three children, Dennis Melton, 27.
In February 2022, police responded to reports of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle on Interstate 59/20 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. What they originally believed was an accident turned out to be an intentional act by Quintana, the driver of the car.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) state troopers found Melton underneath Quintana’s car when they arrived on the scene on Feb. 8, 2022. Melton was rushed to a hospital but died shortly after he arrived.
Witnesses testified during the trial that they saw Quintana’s car parked in an emergency lane on the left side of the road as Melton was walking on the right side, according to WBRC, a local Fox affiliate. While behind the wheel, Quintana turned her car in Melton’s direction, drove across three lanes of traffic, and intentionally struck Melton from behind.
But Quintana, according to the witnesses, wasn’t done yet.
Witnesses then saw Quintana run over Melton, dragging him across the pavement, WBRC reported. The orange safety vest he was wearing at the time left an orange streak on the highway. The jury was shown a video by an eyewitness that reportedly showed Melton trapped under the car, taking his final breaths — while Quintana stood by without attempting to help him.
About 10 witnesses, including Melton’s sister, reportedly testified that at one point they heard Quintana say to Melton, “If you get out of the car, I am going to watch you die.”
Quintana was convicted by the jury on Feb. 14. On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Pruet issued her a life sentence According to the Demopolis Times, a local news outlet that was in the courtroom, chief assistant district attorney for the Sixth Circuit District of Alabama Paula Whitney said after the sentencing that Quintana “never called 911” and “showed no remorse” during trial, adding, “I believe the judge took that into account when he delivered his verdict.”
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