Marine who claimed PTSD pleads guilty to manslaughter

Marine who claimed PTSD pleads guilty to manslaughter
June 5, 2008 - 12:27PM
Jeremy Roebuck
EDINBURG - A Peñitas Marine pleaded guilty Thursday to charges connected to the drunken driving death of a Pharr woman last year.


Erik James Mercado, 26, asked a judge for leniency soon after his arrest claiming he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the Feb. 4, 2007, wreck.

But his attorney - Ricardo Palacios - made no similar claims as Mercado approached visiting Judge Homer Salinas to enter his plea.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Mercado was sentenced to 10 years probation and a 50-day stint in the county jail.

He will be required to pay $120,000 in restitution over the next decade.

He avoided more extensive jail time because he would lose his veteran's disability benefits should he be incarcerated for more than 60 days. Prosecutors felt it was important that he be able to pay restitution to Eusebia Aragon Estrada's surviving children.

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

Breathalyzer tests indicate Mercado had a blood-alcohol level of .11 --.03 over Texas' legal .08 limit - the night he rear-ended Aragon's silver Chevrolet Impala while driving back from a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Mission.

The collision caused the Impala to roll over into the median near the intersection of Expressway 83 and Inspiration Road, killing Aragon on impact.

But since then life has been difficult for Aragon's children - Diana, 9, and Edward, 7, their grandmother Guadalupe Romo said.

Five months after Aragon's death, her husband died of a heart attack.

"He died of a broken heart," Romo said. "He was never the same after her death."

Since then, the children have been living with Romo, a retired nurse.

Shortly after Thursday's hearing, she said she was not interested in Mercado's money but felt restitution payments were important.

"Every time he has to write that check, he'll have to remember (the children)," she said.
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/claimed_12802___article.html/ptsd_edinburg.html