BOSTON — A Dorchester man will spend seven or eight years in prison for killing an 8-year-old child in a hit-and-run last year.
James Horton pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of Yadielys DeLeon Camacho.
Horton was driving with a suspended license when he hit Camacho and Camacho's 12-year-old cousin, while going 57 mph in a 30 mph speed limit zone.
He hit the children, who were playing on a bicycle during a family party, and then crashed into a parked car. Horton took off on foot and got a ride from a friend to Brockton.
"This was an accident. An accident deserving of punishment, but still an accident," Judge Robert Gordon said.
Camacho died from her injuries, while the 12-year-old was thrown under a parked car and suffered a broken leg and concussion.
Police say Horton was driving a rented car by himself and was found inside a closet in a Brockton home the next day.
The now 13-year-old victim wrote a letter that was read in court.
"June 6, 2015 chanced my life forever. I remember [I] was crossing the street with my little cousin Yadielys. Then I woke up in the hospital not knowing why," he wrote. "I cry on birthdays because Yadielys doesn't get to enjoy any of those things anymore. My family can't see me without crying or thinking about the accident."
Horton will have to pay $10,000 to the family and will serve four years probation after his prison sentence is over.
Cox Media Group
