Juan Lozano cried tears of frustration on Wednesday, two days after the woman responsible for the deaths of his sister, brother-in-law and their two children, was sentenced to probation.
Lozano, 58, of Torrance, Calif., flew to Reno on Sunday and rented a car to drive to Douglas District Court in time for the Monday sentencing of Dawn Miley, 44, who pleaded guilty to felony neglect in the traffic deaths of the Calevro family.
But Lozano woke up to a snow squall on Monday in Reno and didn't have the proper equipment to drive the 45 miles to Douglas County.
"I've never driven through the snow," he said in a telephone interview. "That's why I didn't try to go to Carson Valley. It was very frustrating."
There was no one in court to speak on behalf of the victims: Jerome Calevro, 58; his wife, Maria Amelia, 52; daughter Bernadette, 23, and son Jerome Daniel, 15.
The Calevros were en route from their Torrance, Calif., home to a vacation at Lake Tahoe on July 14, 2007, when their vehicle collided with Miley on Highway 395 south of Gardnerville. They were killed at the scene.
District Judge Michael Gibbons suspended a three-year sentence in Nevada State Prison and placed Miley on five years probation.
He pointed to Miley's lack of a prior record, her remorse, and the fact that she lacked medical insurance to pay for a doctor's supervision of her condition.
Gibbons ordered Miley to perform 500 hours of community service, pay $11,044 restitution to the victims' survivors for funeral expenses as a result of the collision and make her life count on behalf of the Calevros.
Miley pleaded guilty in December to felony neglect of duty by self-medicating her diabetes without a doctor's supervision.
As a result, she drove while her level of consciousness was altered by low blood sugar, causing her to lose control of her vehicle.
"Is this justice?" Lozano asked. "He only gave her five years probation and some money to pay expenses. I don't know if this is enough for four people who died in an accident.
"I really feel frustrated. At first I was thinking put her in jail for the rest of her life. He (Gibbons) doesn't know how much this lady hurt my family. I hope he never gets something like this in his family. Somebody must control this woman," Lozano said.
Lozano drives a school bus in the same district where his sister Maria Calevro worked as a school teacher.
She came to the United States from Peru in the mid-1970s, the first of her family of five siblings to make the journey.
Maria Calevro became a United States citizen, worked as a waitress until she married, attended college while her children were young, and became a school teacher.
"We were very close," he said. "They only lived 10-15 minutes away from me and we spent every weekend together and talked daily by telephone.
"Maria was always ready to help out. At the school, when parents from Latin America or Mexico came in, the office always said, 'The first thing you have to do is talk to Mrs. Calevro. She speaks your language.'"
Lozano said his sister's house was the gathering place for family parties.
"She and her husband loved to cook. It was like a competition in the kitchen. They loved to dance, too."
He said his niece and nephew had never been to Peru, but were after their parents for passports so they could join their uncles on trips to the family home.
Lozano knows nothing can bring back his sister and her family.
"My life changed a lot because of the accident. It was my whole family," he said, crying. "I was close to them and my niece and my nephew."
Lozano visited the crash site last summer.
"Some beautiful person had put flowers on top four white crosses," he said. "I stayed there maybe an hour. It was really dark, I was feeling something."
