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Sioux City man pleads guilty in fatal summer crash

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January 17th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man acknowledged he ran a stop sign and caused a fatal crash last summer. Julian Espinoza pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular homicide by driving recklessly, causing a crash that killed Ronald Hacker, of Sioux City. The charge carries a 10-year prison sentence. The Sioux City Journal reports Espinoza will be sentenced March 16 in Woodbury County District Court. He remains free on bond. As part of a plea agreement, an initial charge of vehicular driving while intoxicated was changed. The crash happened when the 32-year-old Espinoza drove his pickup through a stop sign in Sioux City. He collided with a vehicle driven by Hacker, who died three days later.