INDIANAPOLIS -- The driver of the car that crashed and killed Atlanta native and former Indianapolis Colts’ linebacker, Edwin Jackson, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Back in February, Jackson, who went to Westlake High School, and his Uber driver, Jeffrey Monroe, were stopped on the side of the road when Manual Orrego-Zavala’s pickup truck veered onto the shoulder, killing both men.
Orrego-Zavala pleaded guilty in July to two counts of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit in Indiana.
The prosecutor in the case said the deaths of Jackson and Monroe were unnecessary fatal consequences of drunk driving. Monroe’s widow called Orrego-Zavala a drunk, a liar, a murderer, and a coward.
Mary Ellen Jackson, Edwin's, called her son obedient, a mentor to his family, a best friend of his sibling and a treasured teammate. She said her family’s hearts were ripped apart and will always miss a beat.
Orrego-Zavala didn’t address the court Friday, but he wrote a letter to the judge in August asking for forgiveness from the family, the courts, and God. He received the max sentence of 16 years.
Officials said Orrego-Zavala is a Guatemalan citizen in America illegally. He faces deportation after he finishes serving his sentence. Jackson, who earned the nickname Poundcake earlier in his career with the Arizona Cardinals, is still missed by many.
Since his death, an Edwin Jackson Memorial Scholarship was started in his honor by Colts Owner Jim Irsay
