News

Acosta receives sentence

By Scott Wagar

02/12/2013

On Tuesday afternoon Juan Acosta, the individual who drove a truck this past summer at Lake Metigoshe into a tent while intoxicated, and killed two children while they slept in the tent, was sentenced to 15 years in the state’s penitentiary for the six charges against him. Northeast District Judge, Michael Sturdevant, handed down the sentence at the Bottineau County Courthouse.

On July 8, 2012, Acosta, while in an inebriated state stole a truck and drove over a tent at Hahn’s Bay, taking the lives of Cyrus Ruiz, 9, and his five year old brother, Alarius, while at the same time injuring Juan Ruiz (the two boys’ father) and another child in the tent.

Acosta, during his preliminary hearing in September, pleaded not guilty for the six counts against him, which included two counts of manslaughter (Class B Felonies), two counts of reckless endangerment (Class C Felonies), unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (Class C Felony) and driving under the influence (Class B Misdemeanor).

However, on Tuesday he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on all six counts. Attorney Bill Hartl from Rugby, who was appointed to defend Acosta, told Sturdevant that his client changed his plea because he didn’t want a jury trial where everyone involved would have to re-live the event over again.

Acosta added that he was sorry for the incident that took place because of him and that he was content to leave the sentencing hearing in God’s hand and the judgment of the court.

Through the court hearing, it was learned that on July 8 Ruiz and his two boys were invited to Lake Metigoshe to stay at a friend’s cabin. However, his two boys learned that a friend of theirs was camping at Hahn’s Bay and that the Ruiz family was also invited to camp there because there was an extra tent. Since the two boys loved to camp, and their friend was staying at the campsite, Ruiz decided to stay at Hahn’s Bay so his children could be with their friend.

At the same time, without Ruiz’s knowledge, Acosta had fallen on some hard times, and made the decision to go to Lake Metigoshe with some friends where he became intoxicated, smoked marijuana and made the decision to steal a truck.

While at Hahn’s bay, Acosta and his friends were driving erratically around the campsite when Acosta lost control of the vehicle, failed to brake, drove over the tent and came to a stop by hitting a tree.

With his plea of guilty, Sturdevant allowed victim impact statements before making his judgment on Acosta, in which Ruiz, and his wife, Sandy, gave personal testimonies.

“This definitely hasn’t been easy on me and especially hard for my wife,” Ruiz said. “I know that this wasn’t done intentionally, but it doesn’t make it any better or easier.”

Ruiz told the court that when he and his wife had Cyrus he was 18 years old. He added that he wasn’t able to finish high school and he was homeless at that time, but that he was fortunate because his wife’s family took him in and they helped him to turn his life around.

Once on his feet, Ruiz moved his family to Texas where he earned his commercial drivers license and started working as a trucker. In 2009, Ruiz was convicted of a DUI in Texas and lost his license.

“I, too, had a DUI,” Ruiz said. “But, I learned from my mistake.”

At that time, Ruiz learned about job opportunities in North Dakota and moved thousands of miles to North Dakota where he acquired a job in the state and started over again.   

“We have struggled a lot as a young family, but we were determined to come out on top,” Ruiz said, who added that his two boys fell in love with their newly adopted state. “They loved North Dakota. They absolutely loved camping and fishing. This state is a state for boys and we enjoyed doing these things as a family.”

Ruiz then went into the night of the accident, speaking in detail about his personal experience in the event and the difficulties he had from losing his two sons.

“It was hard,” he said. “I was hoping and praying that I would be next.”  

For Sandy, she spoke on what her boys meant to her.

“We have struggled in life, but our boys were the best thing to happen to Juan and me,” S. Ruiz said. “When Cyrus was born he was our miracle child and Alarius was our blessing.”

She also stated that the two boys changed their lives around in a positive manner. She then directed the remainder of her comments to Acosta.

“I just want to say that if Mr. Acosta ever has kids I hope he remembers this and how much pain he caused our family,” Sandy Ruiz said, and who added that she felt a punishment for this type of crime should be a life for a life. “It’s not fair that you live and my sons don’t. They don’t have the chance to become great men, and they were great men going places, but now the rest of the world will never get the chance to see how great they were going to be.”

Acosta was also given the opportunity to speak.

“I am very sorry for the tragedy,” Acosta said. “I was incoherent from alcohol and didn’t know what I was doing. I do not wish this on my worst enemies and if I could give my life in return for the boys I would do it.”

With the impact statements completed, prosecution for the state, Swain Benson III, asked that the judge give Acosta the maximum penalty of 35 years in jail with him serving 25 of those years.

“I know that this wasn’t done intentional, but Mr. Acosta made the decision to drink and smoke marijuana on that day,” Benson said. “He has previous convictions for DUIs (in California) and was punished and received education. So, I think our request is appropriate and not at all unduly harsh.”

Hartl stated that he wished Sturdevant would consider a lesser sentence and reminded the court that Acosta had changed his pleas to guilty and was making every attempt to cooperate with the legal system.

Sturdevant then turned to the sentencing, but stated that he had struggled with determining Acosta’s sentence and that up to the time he stepped inside his courtroom he had still not made up his mind yet on how he would sentence Acosta. He also said that he had spent time studying other cases similar to Acosta’s cases.

With that said, Sturdevant sentenced Acosta to the following:

•  Manslaughter (Case 200) – 10 years  
• Manslaughter (Case 201) - 10 years with five years suspended, and the sentence running concurrent with Case 200
• Reckless Endangerment (Case 202) – Five years with the sentence running concurrent with cases 203 and 204 and consecutive to cases 200 and 201
• Reckless Endangerment (Case 203) – Five years with the sentence running concurrent with cases 202 and 204 and consecutive with cases 200 and 201
• Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle (Case 204) – Five years with the sentence running concurrent with cases 202 and 203 and consecutive with cases 200 and 201
• Driving Under the Influence (Case 205) – 30 days in jail with time servedOverall, Acosta received 15 years in jail, five years of supervised probation, $1,025 in total fees and will have to participate in an alcohol treatment program while incarcerated.

“There’s nothing anyone can do here to bring those boys back to this world. And, it would be easier for me to sentence Mr. Acosta if he was an evil person, but he is not. He has been a model prisoner since he has been here,” Sturdevant said. “I understand that he did have some difficulties in the past in California, but it appears that in North Dakota he has been very hard working and productive.”

Sturdevant then asked Sheriff Steve Watson to prepare his trip to the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation in Bismarck.

As for the Juan and Sandy Ruiz, their journey in remembering their sons, and finding justice for their deaths, continues. The couple has been in Bismarck lobbying in front of legislators asking for tougher laws in North Dakota concerning DUIs.