Fresno, CA (KMJ/KFSN) — Lisa Spoors, the driver who hit and killed 15-year-old Rashad Al-Hakim Jr. in 2022, has been sentenced to five years in jail.
The 40-year-old initially faced murder, DUI, and hit-and-run charges before taking a plea deal earlier this year.
The five-year sentence was the maximum allowed under the deal with prosecutors.
Spoors first pleaded not guilty to all the charges but later agreed not to fight one count of manslaughter and one count of hit-and-run.
In exchange, prosecutors dropped the DUI and connected murder charge, saying the deal avoided a potentially challenging trial in which it would have been difficult to prove if Spoors was actually under the influence.
Authorities say the Hoover High School student was not in a crosswalk when he was crossing First Street near the Northeast Fresno campus when Spoors drove into him and left.
At the time, Spoors was a graduate teaching assistant at Fresno State, but that contract ended one day after the district attorney filed charges.
