A Seymour man who police said was driving drunk during an October 2012 car accident that killed his friend pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the crash Thursday.
Manuel Esteves, 20, pleaded guilty before Judge Karen Sequino at Superior Court in Derby to charges of second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle and second-degree assault with a motor vehicle.
According to court records, a plea agreement in the case calls for Esteves to face up to six years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 21.
The crash killed Korey Jordan, a 19-year-old Naugatuck resident, and injured Esteves and two other passengers.
According to an arrest warrant used to charge Esteves, the crash occurred the night of Halloween in 2012 after a group of friends including Esteves and Jordan left a drinking party in the woods off Pheasant Drive and headed to McDonald’s.
The group traveled in two vehicles, and police said the pair of cars raced one another down South Main Street before Esteves lost control of his vehicle, crashed into a telephone pole and then collided with a cement wall.
According to the warrant, police noticed an odor of alcohol on Esteves’ breath at the crash scene, and later got a search record for his medical records, which showed a blood alcohol content of .156 as well as “positive readings for opiates and benzodiazepines.”
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Esteves is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 21.
A plea agreement in the case calls for a 10-year prison sentence to be suspended after up to six years, with three to five years of probation.
Esteves’ lawyer, Christian Young, can argue for lesser or no jail time.
The Valley Indy left a message for Young Friday.
In addition to the criminal case, Jordan’s family has filed a lawsuit against Esteves, as has one of the other passengers in his car that night.
Both of those cases are pending.
