Ex-Marine sentenced to probation for fatal drunken driving wreck

Terms of Erik Mercado's probation:
>> 50 days in Hidalgo County Jail.
>> $120,000 in restitution payments to victim's family.
>> 260 hours of community service.
>> Must install alcohol testing devices in his car and wear an alcohol-monitoring device.

EDINBURG -- A former Marine was sentenced to 10 years probation Thursday for a fatal drunken driving wreck his lawyers once said was caused by post-traumatic stress.

Erik James Mercado, 26, of Peñitas, asked a judge for leniency soon after his February 2007 arrest on intoxication manslaughter charges, arguing his fragile state of mind after three tours of duty in Iraq influenced his decision to drink and drive.

But as Mercado pleaded guilty Thursday, he made no similar claims.

"He's got a lot ahead of him," his attorney Ricardo Palacios said. "It's not a walk in the park."

Breathalyzer tests indicated Mercado had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.11 percent the night he rear-ended 27-year-old Eusebia Aragon Estrada's car outside of Mission, killing her on impact. Under Texas law, a driver who registers a level of 0.08 percent or higher is considered intoxicated.

Two weeks earlier, police had arrested Mercado on suspicion of drunken driving outside of Houston.

But as sheriff's deputies removed Mercado from the courtroom Thursday, Aragon's mother-in-law, Guadalupe Romo, finally let herself cry.

Romo took in her two young grandchildren after their father died of a heart attack in the months after Aragon's funeral.

"He died of a broken heart," she said. "But I haven't had a chance to grieve. I had to be strong for them."

Under the terms of Mercado's probation, he will spend 50 days in the county jail and be required to pay $120,000 in restitution over the next decade.

Prosecutors declined to push for more jail time because Mercado would lose his veterans' disability benefits should his incarceration last more than two months. He received the Purple Heart after shrapnel struck him during combat.

Now, half of Mercado's monthly assistance payment, which makes up a substantial portion of his income, will go to the victim's family, Palacios said.

Romo maintains the money is not the issue.

"Every time he has to write that check," she said, "he'll have to remember (the children)."
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.