A little more than a year after 17-year-old Riley Rawlins, a student at Lake Highlands High School, was struck and killed near the Royal-Audelia intersection in Lake Highlands, 19-year-old Soraya Villaneuva, the unlicensed uninsured driver who hit him is awaiting sentencing.
Monica Rawlins was at her daughter’s eighth birthday celebration when she received the news that her oldest son had been fatally injured while crossing the street. She recalls hollering uncontrollably as she left the party. “I must have traumatized all of those little girls,” she says.
Though Villaneuva admitted to driving more than twice the posted speed limit and attempting to “beat the yellow light” as well as driving without a license and without insurance, she was not arrested at the scene.
Why not? After speaking with Monica yesterday, I left a message for the investigating officer on the scene in an attempt to answer that, and I will report more in my next post on this topic.
In fact, it took more than a month for police to arrest Villaneuva, after widespread public outcry. Her case went before a grand jury, which returned a recommendation for criminally negligent homicide and assault with a deadly weapon. Villanueva was prosecuted only for the negligent homicide charge, to which she plead guilty.
I also have contacted the prosecuting attorney assigned to the case in an effort to learn more details about the charges and the timeline for sentencing.
Legally, things were moving along OK until the district attorney’s office assigned a new prosecutor, Monica says. Then, she adds, there seemed to be less communication and things didn’t seem to be moving along so steadily.
“I wanted (Villaneuva) to spend Christmas in jail. I couldn’t spend Christmas with my son, so I didn’t want her spending Christmas with her family,” Monica says of her son’s killer.
For a person who has lost so much, Monica Rawlins seems exceedingly rational. She understands the district attorney’s office is inundated, and concedes she may not understand all of the legal ins-and-outs, but says she is upset that she is not getting information she feels she is entitled to.
“They asked me to agree to a plea deal and I asked how many days [Villaneuva] would spend in jail and [the prosecutor] couldn’t even answer me.”
The plea offer is for “two for five, $1500 bond, and days as stated”, Monica says. Two for five means two years confinement, probated for five years. Basically, five years probation. Monica is concerned that the defendant won’t receive jail time, which she says she would find unacceptable.
The prosecutor, Monica says, said she would call back in a few minutes with answers to Monica’s questions about the case. “That was days ago.”
Monica says she feels that Riley’s case is getting brushed aside. She understands the district has many pressing cases, she says. “But it is very upsetting to be passed off. I know if I am going through this, there are many families out there who are enduring similar situations. I feel that they hope we will just go away.”
Monica Rawlins didn’t mention to the media when we were all over this story was that she was five months pregnant at the time her oldest child was killed.
Every day since Riley’s death has been an emotional struggle for his family, she says.
She wanted to see Villaneuva spend the holidays in jail, or she wanted her to be in jail over Riley’s February birthday — it’s symbolic and would make her feel, if slightly, more at peace, she says.
“Justice has not been served yet. She took my firstborn. My only son.”
Monica’s feelings about Villaneuva are complicated she says. “Sometimes I don’t even think of her or care about her at all. Other times, I want her to feel exactly what Riley felt when he was dragged behind her car. To feel what pain she caused by doing something stupid.”
Riley’s friends from Lake Highlands High School still visit. One of them, while on vacation, commissioned a New York City street artist to paint Riley’s portrait from a cell phone photo and gave it to Monica as a Christmas gift. “Yes, that gesture had me crying,” she says. Christmas was tough, she adds.
Riley’s sisters Lauren Buntenbah (on whose birthday Riley died) and Gillian Rawlins, LHE and LHHS students respectively, have been to counseling and are dealing with the loss. Their baby brother, Lucas, sleeps in Riley’s old bedroom.
We will continue to post updates on the Riley Rawlins case. If you have any information to share, please email chughes@advocatemag.com.
