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Background: Emily Hernandez arriving at court in Franklin County, Missouri (KSDK/YouTube). Inset: Emily Hernandez at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot (Department of Justice)
A Jan. 6 rioter from Missouri who made headlines for swiping Nancy Pelosi’s name plate during the Capitol attack went from pardon to prison this week as she was sentenced Wednesday for causing a fatal crash while driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway.
Emily Hernandez, 25, got hit with a 10-year sentence by Franklin County Judge Ryan Helfrich for the death of 32-year-old Victoria Wilson on Jan. 5, 2022, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and local NBC affiliate KSDK. She received 10 years and another seven years for injuring Wilson’s husband, Ryan E. Wilson — who was riding with her that night — with the sentences to be served concurrently.
“No matter how loud I cried out to her, I couldn’t wake her,” Wilson said in court Wednesday, where he reportedly used a cane to walk due to the severity of his injuries, per the Post-Dispatch. “I couldn’t reach her because of the air bags.”
According to her criminal complaint, Hernandez was driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway during the fatal crash that killed Wilson and injured her husband. The crash happened just after 7 p.m., with their cars colliding in the eastbound lane of I-44.
Hernandez had a blood-alcohol content of .20% when tested after the crash, more than double the legal limit.
“What I did was ungodly and I will live with that shame for the rest of my life,” Hernandez said at her sentencing, according to the Post-Dispatch. “I am sorry for what I did and if I could take it all back, I would.”
Victoria Wilson’s family told KSDK after the court proceeding that while it’s nice to see justice be served, there’s “an empty hole” in their hearts that will never be filled.
“Nothing will bring her back,” said Victoria’s mom, Tonie Donaldson. “It was some relief to be able to turn and look her in her eyes and tell her how much harm she had really done to us … that’s a choice she made, she has to live with it.”
Hernandez, who pleaded guilty to the drunk driving incident, was pardoned by President Donald Trump last week on his first day in office — along with other rioters — after she pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a misdemeanor for entering the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
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After the attack, Hernandez was seen in pictures and on video grinning while holding a fragment of a sign appearing to identify Pelosi’s office. She pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building after originally being charged with disorderly conduct, disruptive conduct in the Capitol, one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building, and “steal[ing], sell[ing], convey[ing] or dispos[ing] of any thing of value of the United States.”
The fatal crash that claimed Victoria Wilson’s life happened just six days before Hernandez was scheduled to plead guilty. She was given a 30-day jail sentence for the Jan. 6 charge.