Trucker gets 48 years for causing crash that killed 7 farmworkers

Jose E. Solis-Flores woke up from a nap feeling confused and disoriented. 

He had been sleeping in a van on Interstate 5, headed with 10 other farmworkers from one work location to another. 

He eventually felt blood dripping down his face and then noticed his companions lying still around him in the van, he recalled in a Marion County courtroom Tuesday afternoon. “I wanted to try to help them but I couldn’t even help myself,” he said.

Moments before the worker woke up, Lincoln C. Smith had plowed a semi-truck into the van near Salem, killing seven farmworkers and leaving three others with lasting, serious injuries.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Daniel J. Wren sentenced Smith, 54, of Sacramento, on Tuesday to 48 years in state prison, bringing finality to one of the most horrific collisions to ever occur in Marion County. 

He ordered that Smith not be eligible for early release and revoked his driving privileges for life.

The sentence came a month after a jury found Smith guilty of seven counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of third-degree assault and reckless driving. He was acquitted of a single charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

Jurors on Feb. 5 found Smith was driving recklessly when he fell asleep at the wheel and caused the crash on May 18, 2023, but was not impaired by the methamphetamine and cocaine he used the night before.

The collision occurred after Adan Garcia-Garcia, the driver of the van carrying the farmworkers, pulled to the side of the freeway and stepped out to check on an attached trailer. He narrowly avoided physical injury but said in court that he remains haunted by the loss of his brother and nephew in the crash.

Smith testified during the trial that he started feeling tired that day while making his way up the interstate. He said he tried pulling into two truck stops that were full and was planning to exit at the next rest stop when he fell asleep.

Prosecutors argued that between there and the crash scene, there were six truck stops, 14 exits and two rest areas where Smith could have pulled over.

Surviving victims and relatives of those killed in the crash spoke through Spanish interpreters or by letter for roughly two hours during the Tuesday hearing in a vast downtown courtroom, detailing the ripple effect the crash has had on their lives. 

Solis-Flores, 44, recalled looking at himself in a mirror at the hospital and seeing a face he didn’t recognize. Reconstructive surgery left him with a metal plate underneath the skin on his face.

“The simple tasks in life became monumental for me,” he said. He had difficulty using the bathroom after the crash. He fears driving, avoids walking up stairs, can’t eat hard food and feels pain in his face when the weather is cold. “The amount that I am able to open my jaw is very limited,” he said.

A self-described “gym rat” before the crash, Solis-Flores said he now exercises by “trying to walk a couple streets” at a slow pace. He said he has always worked using his hands and back but now has to go back to school to take up a new profession. He’s afraid that he’ll be unsuccessful due to his constant pain. 

The mother of Luis Enrique Gomez-Reyes, 30, of Woodburn, wrote in a letter that losing him in the crash was “the biggest pain I have ever felt.”

“I feel like I will never be able to enjoy my life again. I don’t know if my wound will ever heal. All my son was doing was working,” she said. “Now, his children have no dad.”

The widow of Eduardo “Eddy” Lopez-Lopez, 32, of Gervais, described him in a letter as the love of her life, her soulmate and the anchor of their family. They were married for 12 years and had two children, who always eagerly waited for him to come home from work, rushed to greet him and cherished his presence, she said.

The last time she heard from her husband, he called her on the day of the crash and reminded her that he loved and missed them. 

“I’ve run out of words to comfort our children,” she said. “I became lost, adrift without the man that gave me strength and peace.”

She said their oldest daughter was robbed of her childhood joy and misses her father, the warmth of his hugs and the wisdom of his words. She told their youngest that their dad went on a very long trip, and she shows them videos and photos to keep his memory alive. 

She said she doesn’t wish her pain and sorrow on anyone. “I just want my husband back,” she said.

The widow of Josue Garcia-Garcia, 30, of Salem, said they had three children and dreamed of growing old together. 

He died shortly before their 10-year anniversary. She recalled dropping to the ground in disbelief upon learning of his death, a day forever etched into her memory. She said she strives to find strength but often has to hide tears from her children as they express longing for their dad.

“I am determined to honor Josue’s memory by being the best mother I can be,” she said.

Speaking through an interpreter, the husband of Alejandra Espinoza-Carpio, 39, of Woodburn, who died in the collision, said his heart and soul are “completely destroyed.”

Their son, who was one and a half years old at the time of the crash, woke up the day after and looked for his mom in their kitchen, bathroom and bedroom before motioning with his hands as if to ask, “Where’s mom?,” he recalled.

Espinoza-Carpio was an engineer by trade, and the couple came from Mexico to the U.S. for a better life.

“All the plans, all the dreams were gone,” he said. “It has not been easy to be a mom and a dad. Many talks and conversations with my wife are left up in the air.” At the end of his statement, he shook the judge’s hand and gave him a photo of his wife.

Ibis Torres-Rangel, who survived the crash, said he has “always worked in the fields” and no longer has the physical abilities he used to count on.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said he can no longer carry his groceries and is scared by “every little noise that is unexpected.” He has to constantly distract himself. Otherwise, he said, “I’m thinking of my companions that are no longer here.”

Torres-Rangel said both his arms and his chest, back and ribs were injured in the crash. He needs additional surgeries, some of which he won’t undergo because he would be risking his life.

“Every single day is grey. Everything is sad. Everything is fear. Everything is pain,” he said. 

Adan Garcia-Garcia, who was driving the van on the day of the crash, recalled Smith’s defense attorney saying at the start of the trial that Smith had a family, children, parents and a dog who was his best friend.

“Now I say to you, my brother had a family. My brother had children. My friends, my companions, we all had siblings, families, their children that were waiting for them,” he said, tearfully speaking through an interpreter. 

He said anytime he was assigned to drive the van, he did his best to drive safely so his companions would get home safe to their families. “I knew that was a lot of responsibility,” he said. “That day, that did not happen.”

He recalled his brother telling him about his plans and dreams. “All of that ended for my brother and his coworkers,” he said. “For me, nowadays, it’s difficult to live.”

Maria Flores-Martinez, another survivor, used a walker to approach the judge. She handed him a photo of herself working in a field before the collision left her with “a total disability,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.

She described the crash as something out of a movie. “I saw so much massacre,” she said.

“Having a license is a privilege and it’s a responsibility. I did not deserve to end up disabled and to depend on someone else for the most minimal things in my home. Before, I was an active person. I liked to work, have a social life, and now I do not have that,” she said. “I prepared myself all of these years thinking about the day that I would retire from working due to my age, not due to a disability caused by another person. I will never be the same person again.”

Flores-Martinez spent nine days in a coma after the crash. She said she lost an artery in her neck, which now has no mobility. Her upper back is numb. She lives with metal plates in her head.

Marion County Deputy District Attorney David R. Wilson said during the hearing that Smith has 17 previous arrests and nine criminal convictions in California, including for possessing a hypodermic needle, possessing a bad check and disorderly conduct.

Smith has twice served prison sentences after being convicted in 2001 of receiving stolen property and most recently in 2005 for using force with a deadly weapon.

Wilson asked the judge to impose consecutive sentences for all of Smith’s convictions for the crash besides reckless driving, with a total sentence of 48 years.  

Sniffles could be heard throughout the court gallery as Wilson listed the names of each victim.

“This isn’t just an accident. This all stemmed from choices the defendant made,” he said. “These choices warrant individual consideration.”

Attorney Tiffany Humphrey, who represented Smith, asked the judge to sentence him to 12 and a half years in prison. “There was one crash. Mr. Smith did not act toward each victim separately,” she said. 

She noted that he was found not guilty of driving under the influence, adding that he is not a danger to the community and shouldn’t spend the rest of his life in prison.

“Anyone that has ever driven for a period of time has felt tired,” she said. “Most people don’t stop. Most people push through.”

Humphrey said Smith will think about the harm he caused every day of his life and has to live with the guilt and remorse of killing seven people and seriously injuring three others. 

She also noted that until the crash, Smith had not been convicted of a crime in 20 years and had never been in a collision that was his fault. She said Smith has been taking advantage of “opportunities and classes” during his 21 months in jail.

Smith stood when it was his turn to speak, wearing a collared shirt with restraints on his wrists, waist and ankles.

He said he wanted the victims and their families to know that he would trade his life for any of theirs if he could.

“I have nightmares every night just like they do. I don’t sleep just like they don’t,” he said. “I’m not making it that it’s okay, I just want them to know that I’m sorry. I wish I could change it. I fell asleep, this is my fault, and I’ll take responsibility for it, whatever that may be.”

Judge Wren thanked those in the court gallery, and the victims and their relatives who spoke. Most of them sat through the trial, which he said was “heart-wrenching at times.”

He acknowledged that Adan Garcia-Garcia was “clearly a victim,” even though Smith was not charged with causing him harm. “I can hear it in his voice every time he speaks,” Wren said.

“There’s nothing that I can do today and say today that’s going to take away or replace the pain or the loss that the victims and the victims families have suffered,” the judge said, adding that there were “probably hundreds of folks” who suffered from Smith’s actions.

He questioned Smith’s decision not to pull over, take a break or get off the road when he himself testified that he knew two hours earlier that he should be done for the day.

Wren pointed out that the only explanation Smith gave for not pulling to the side of the interstate was that he didn’t want to get a ticket. “So then, here we are,” he said.

The judge recalled that police officers who responded to the crash testified one after another that it was one of the most horrific scenes they had ever seen.

Wren imposed the sentence recommended by Wilson. 

He noted that Smith had 18 years of experience driving commercial vehicles.

“He should’ve known better,” Wren said. “He should’ve pulled over, he should’ve done a lot of things differently.”

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