ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The mom who drove drunk and crashed on I-25 in 2021 killing two kids, including one of her own, will spend nearly two decades in prison. 

Alexis Martinez pled guilty to several charges including killing her seven-year-old daughter. Martinez was driving drunk, when she crashed into a barrier along I-25 in March 2021. The police said she was with her friend Danielle Ortiz and four children. Two children died, including Martinez’s daughter Moya.

Behind tears, the grandparents of seven-year-old Amariah Moya spoke about the night that changed their lives. 

“The choices you made that night that took the lives of two precious babies were horrible. No mother in her right mind would’ve made a choice like that,” said Lucy Martinez, grandmother of Amariah Moya. 

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The state argued Martinez made a series of bad decisions that led to the deadly crash. Referencing social media posts that were taken before the crash, showing Martinez drinking a bottle of vodka in the car.  

“Every day since my client woke up in the hospital several days after this accident, and she was told what she had done, she has punished herself every single day,” said Megan Mitsunaga, defense attorney. 

Martinez’s half-sister said she was a good mother. “I’m not making any excuses for her actions, but she did the best she could with what she was given,” said Jasmine Shelby, Martinez’s half-sister. 

“The guilt and shame that I feel are overwhelming, to say the least, and it is difficult for me to come to terms with what I have done as the outcome was never my intention,” said Martinez. 

She faced 39 years in prison, the judge sentenced her to 18 years. “You knew right from wrong, and you knew this was wrong when you got in the car, but you did it anyway, and certainly, Ms. Martinez, you have to be held accountable for a choice that you made,” said Judge Stanley Whitaker. 

The judge also sentenced Martinez to five years of probation and required her to get a GED while in prison. The other mother, Danielle Ortiz, also pleaded guilty in the case. She is expected to be sentenced next month.