In a recent legal development, a Florida woman implicated in a tragic incident that resulted in her friend’s death has managed to avoid a prison sentence through a plea agreement. Julia Vega, aged 73, accepted guilt on charges of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide related to the unfortunate demise of her friend, Elsa Pintor, who was 69.

The incident occurred on the night of December 31, 2024. Vega was driving her SUV with Pintor, her closest friend, seated beside her. While navigating the parking lot of an apartment complex in Hialeah Gardens, Vega abruptly accelerated, crashing into a yellow retainer pole and a chain-link fence, before the vehicle plunged into a nearby lake.

Vega managed to escape from the submerged SUV, but tragically, Pintor was trapped. Although rescuers retrieved Pintor from the water and detected a faint pulse, she could not survive the ordeal and passed away at the hospital later that night.

Authorities administered a sobriety test to Vega, which she failed. Subsequent toxicology reports revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.148, significantly exceeding the legal limit of 0.08. Additionally, the presence of alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax, was detected in her system.

Vega was asked to undergo a sobriety test, which she eventually failed. Toxicology results showed that Vega’s blood alcohol content was 0.148, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08. She also had alprazolam, also known as Xanax, in her system at the time.

In body camera footage released by police, Vega was heard telling officers, “I’m not drunk, we only had wine at Cooper’s Hawk.” She also asked police, “Did my friend die?”

Police wrote in a criminal complaint that Vega was “slurring her words, stumbling around on flat grounds, and [had] blood shot, watery eyes.” After being read her Miranda rights at the scene, she asked for an attorney.

Vega’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, told independent news station WPLG that Vega lives with guilt every day since her best friend’s death. “It’s a horrible feeling and she’s very, very remorseful about what happened, and that’s part of the reason why we were able to articulate the plea agreement and agree upon the terms and conditions that we did.”

Napoleon told WPLG that prosecutors agreed that sentencing Vega to prison “would not serve the public’s best interest.”

Vega was sentenced to 10 years of probation, during which time she will have a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Her driver’s license was permanently revoked, and she was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.