UPDATE IN RED BELOW; HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST:
SALINE CO.—We’ve been advised that Arnulfo Fonseca, Harrisburg-area lowlife, has received a six-year sentence on his 2007 Aggravated DUI charge, on his 40th birthday, 12.01.11.
Arnulfo Fonseca, at John Curtis' murder trial last November
This charge was the result of the night of May 28, 2007, when all hell broke loose in the world of Ashleigh Miller’s life and she was hospitalized with severe head trauma after a night on the town with her babydaddy, Arnulfo.
On that night, so many stories of how Ashleigh came to be in the condition she was in that it sounded like an Earp incident. However, one of those many stories was consistent: Arnulfo was drunk off his ass when he drove the wounded Ashleigh to the hospital in Harrisburg.
Even after he was questioned extensively, he was let go, and wasn’t arrested in the matter with Ashleigh until after she died from her injuries, a week or so later.
He was charged with her murder, as well as aggravated DUI (3 or more; he’s a chronic drunk); driving on revoked license, and obstruction of justice (for telling all those multiple versions of how Ashleigh’s head got so bashed in).
And somehow, Fonseca prevailed at trial in January 2008, and got out of the murder charge….even though it was obvious what had happened, the truth was blurred and obscured enough so that the jury had “reasonable doubt” and let the punk/drunk/dope deliverer/sex offender (dating back to the days when after you’re on the registry 10 years, you drop off) go a free man, only to drag another woman behind a moving vehicle (one of the many stories about how Ashleigh sustained her injuries) a couple of years later.
Michael Wesley and Morgan Scroggins
Before former state’s attorney David Nelson handed the reins over to current SA Mike Henshaw, he opted to pursue the charges Fonseca DIDN’T get exonerated from: the DUI, obstruction and driving revoked. Arny, all pumped up over his victory in the murder trial, talked his attorney Morgan Scroggins, into filing a federal civil rights lawsuit in Benton over the state coming after him on the other charges (don’t ask me; he apparently thought somehow that “the man” was after him because he’s some kind of minority…nevermind that he’s a lifelong crim with even a juvie record and had been causing trouble since the 80s, sucking in decent people of Saline County society to his world of violence, dope, etc., and was just little but a punk who needed to be stopped). Arnulfo sued EVERYBODY who was ANYBODY in the Saline County court system, including Nelson’s wife Mona, who did little but assist her husband with maintaining order among the witnesses during the trial. And when he lost that case, he appealed the state pursuing the case up to the appellate court….and like the loser he is, he lost that bid, too.
So, apparently, afraid he was going to lose bigger than he already had, Arny agreed to a plea on Sept. 9 of this year, to the Agg DUI. Henshaw asked for ten years; Judge Walden Morris gave Arny six. With day-for-day, he’ll be out in three, nothing but madder over his lot in life than ever before…but at least this will keep him from having to pay anything to Kim Leberman, Ashleigh’s mom, who has filed a Wrongful Death civil suit against his sorry ass.
According to our sources who were present, Arnulfo presented a tearful apology at one point in the hearing, but this was likely only in response to the fact that he’s going to be sitting with his fellow cons, not because his actions lead to the death of Ashleigh. As one court observer pointed out, if Arnulfo hadn’t been violating the law and driving on a revoked license while drunk, the actions he took, whatever those were, might not have had the dire outcome they did, and Ashleigh might be alive today.
Anyway, good job Henshaw & Morris…let’s hope Arny doesn’t decide to sue you for this, though.