Woman sentenced to prison after fatal DUI crash
A 25-year-old woman was sentenced to three to nine years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to driving while impaired, leading to a crash that left a military veteran and longtime federal employee dead.
Daysia Brown pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in a crash that killed Julio Maymi-Diaz, 50, of Las Vegas. Maymi-Diaz was the passenger in a Lyft vehicle struck by Brown’s Jeep at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Gass Avenue in the early morning hours of Dec. 10.
“She’s willing to take what’s coming to her,” Brown’s defense attorney Kenneth Frizzell said in court Thursday morning.
The charge requires a mandatory prison sentence, but Frizzell argued Brown had no prior charges. Frizzell asked Clark County District Court Judge Joseph Hardy Jr. for the minimum of two years in prison, after which she would be eligible for parole. Brown would be required to complete a drug rehabilitation program before she was released.
Brown told an officer after the crash that “she was drunk and that she deserved what was coming to her,” according to her arrest report.
Brown’s family sat in the back of the courtroom. She cried during the hearing while referencing her mother and father.
“Both my parents and family are all military,” Brown said through tears. “I know right from wrong.”
Giselle Maymi, one of Maymi-Diaz’ sisters from Florida, told Hardy that it has been a blessing to be around her brother’s friends in Las Vegas, who supported her after his death.
“Three days before his accident he was about to retire from the federal court,” Maymi said. “He didn’t get to enjoy that.”
After the hearing, she said Hardy was too lenient in his sentencing.
Giselle Maymi said her brother had strong sense of humor, and she will remember his laugh the most. She said he was always in a good mood, and that’s why she believed he had so many friends.
Maymi-Diaz served in the U.S. Air Force and worked in federal civil service jobs for decades, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor.
Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0350. Follow @jimi_writes on Twitter.
