By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A 22-year-old Hamilton Township man has pleaded guilty to three counts of death by auto in connection with an automobile accident that killed his three passengers when he lost control of his car on I-95 near the Route 1 South ramp in Lawrence Township in December 2013., Luis Delcid-Cardona, who was 19 years old when the accident occurred, pleaded guilty in a hearing before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw, said spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office., Under the terms of the plea agreement, Delcid-Cardona will be sentenced to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced in May, Ms. DeBlasio said. The prison sentences will run concurrently – which means at the same time – and he will have to serve 85 percent of the sentence on each count., Delcid-Cardona, who is in the United States illegally, faces deportation to Guatemala after he completes his prison sentence, Ms. DeBlasio said., The accident occurred when Delcid-Cardona lost control of his Volkswagen GTS, which jumped over the low concrete divider between I-95 and the Route 1 ramp. The car struck the rear of a tractor-trailer truck that was parked on the shoulder of the road., Two women who were sitting the back seat of the car died at the scene. Samantha Belliveau, 18, was ejected from the car. Nicole Rodriguez, 20, was partially ejected from the car. Both women lived in Hamilton Township., The front-seat passenger, 19-year-old Jonathan Rivas of Princeton, died several days later at Capital Health Regional Medical Center. He was Delcid-Cardona’s cousin., Delcid-Cardona fled from the scene of the accident, and was apprehended by police at a Lawrence Township home a short time later.
