Santa Rosa woman apologizes for fatal hit-and-run; her attorney asks for minimal sentence

In a two-page handwritten letter to a Sonoma County judge, a Santa Rosa woman describes herself as apologetic and remorseful in the wake of her conviction in a hit-and-run last summer that killed a young man from Cloverdale.

Allisa Whitten wrote her letter to Sonoma County Judge Mark Urioste, who is overseeing the 35-year-old woman’s sentencing in the Aug. 27, 2023, collision that killed Oswaldo Cardenas Jr., 18.

She begins her letter by apologizing for misspellings and poor penmanship before making her first publicly available comments about fatally striking Cardenas — which she was convicted of in November — as he and his friends walked along River Road after a morning of fishing.

“I am a mother and cannot imagine the suffering his mother and family are forced to be going through because of the loss of this young man,” Whitten wrote. “I will never understand what his mother is feeling with the loss of her child.”

Her letter was filed Dec. 29 in Sonoma County Superior Court ahead of a sentencing hearing that was scheduled for Friday before being rescheduled to Jan. 19.

It is included with two other statements.

The first is a court filing by Whitten’s attorney, Jay Pitchford, who is with the Sonoma County Public Defender’s Office. Pitchford is asking the judge to impose the minimal sentence when Whitten appears before him later this month.

Also part of the collection is a second handwritten letter from one of Whitten’s supporters, whose name is illegible. The writer also asks Urioste to “please show leniency in (Whitten’s) sentencing.”

When reached Thursday night, Cardenas’ mother, Christina Hermosillo, balked at the requests.

“I feel like she’s been shown enough leniency,” Hermosillo said, adding that the past few months have been a “struggle” for her and Cardenas’ loved ones.

The family, she said, has had little time to mourn as Whitten’s criminal proceedings began and ended in the four months that followed her son’s death.

Hermosillo declined further comment.

Whitten was the driver of a Buick Enclave that hit Cardenas at about 7:30 a.m. Aug. 27, according to the California Highway Patrol. Whitten, who was identified as the driver later, stopped briefly but then drove away.

Oswaldo Cardenas Jr. died at the scene.

A member of the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians, Cardenas was remembered by friends and family who later gathered for a vigil at the scene where Cardenas was fatally struck.

Weeks of searching ensued after investigators released surveillance footage of the Buick. On Aug. 30, it was found engulfed in flames on Llano Road west of Santa Rosa.

Whitten was identified as the registered owner of the vehicle, which matched witness descriptions of the vehicle that struck Cardenas. It also had matching crash damage from the hit-and-run.

Whitten was arrested Sept. 1 at her home. The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office then charged her with one count each of hit-and-run resulting in death or injury, vehicular manslaughter, destroying evidence and driving without a valid license.

Whitten pleaded not guilty to the charges Sept. 25, but barely two months later, on Nov. 17, entered a plea of no contest and was convicted on all counts.

According to her plea agreement with the prosecution, Whitten could be sentenced to as much as six years in prison, in the wake of her conviction.

In the mitigation filing, Whitten’s attorney asks Uriste to impose “the low term of 16 months” in prison or one year in the Sonoma County jail plus probation.

“Ms. Whitten is unlikely to ever repeat such an incident, which happened as the result of a tragic accident,” Pitchford wrote. “Ms. Whitten is incredibly remorseful and feels great pain for the victim and his family and friends.

“Pure incarceration will not protect society more than the everlasting memory of these events ...,” he added.

Sonoma County Assistant District Attorney Brian Staebell said his office will present its sentencing recommendation in court and declined further comment.

In her letter, Whitten wrote that she wishes she had handled things differently Aug. 27 but she was “scared and in shock.”

“There is nothing I can say that will make any of this any better,” she wrote. “I am not a bad person and I pray that hopefully one day this young man’s mother, siblings, family and friends can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi