The case against Carlos Fierro ended Friday.

There will be no new trial and no appeal of his vehicular homicide conviction last month. Instead, the Santa Fe attorney will serve at least three years in prison as a result of a plea deal.

"This is a very good, in my opinion, resolution of this case," state District Judge Michael Vigil said in approving the plea on Friday.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys were scheduled Friday to debate Fierro's request for a new trial because of issues involving instructions given to the jury. Fierro faced up to six years for running down and killing William Tenorio, 46, of San Felipe Pueblo while driving drunk on Guadalupe Street on Thanksgiving eve last year.

However, after about an hour-and-a-half delay in the scheduled hearing Friday morning, the judge entered the courtroom and announced that Fierro had agreed to the plea with prosecutors.

Part of the deal called for Fierro to plead no contest to leaving the scene of a fatal accident — a charge on which jurors had deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction during last month's trial.

The agreement called for suspending two years of the three-year sentence on that charge, with the remaining year to run consecutively with the six years Fierro faced on the vehicular homicide count, for a total sentence of seven years in prison.

The defense didn't want the vehicular homicide charge classified as a serious violent offense, which would have meant Fierro would be required to serve 85 percent of the six-year prison term for vehicular homicide, said Bob Gorence, one of Fierro's lawyers. As it is, Fierro will receive credit for spending most of the past year on electronic monitoring and he could be out of prison in three years if he behaves himself.

In exchange for the plea deal, Fierro agreed not to appeal his conviction and to drop his motion for a new trial.

District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco — who helped prosecute the case — said her office was "absolutely" was prepared to retry Fierro on the leaving-the-scene charge that jurors couldn't agree on last month. However, she said she received a call from defense attorneys recently asking if she would consider resolving the case with a plea agreement.

Pacheco said she met with members of the Tenorio family and explained the parameters of the proposed deal, then left the decision to them.

"They called me Sunday night at home and said, 'We want resolution,' " Pacheco said.

Asked after Friday's hearing if she was happy with the plea, Charlotte Little, Tenorio's sister, said, "I don't know about happy ... relieved."

"We're relieved," said Rose Tenorio, William Tenorio's mother, who was sitting beside her daughter in the courtroom. "That's a good word for it."

Before the sentencing, Rose Tenorio spoke about the way her son died and the pain it causes her.

She told Fierro, "You left him broken on a city street in front of horrified witnesses who came to his aid. This is what I live with."

She also talked about feeling offended during the trial by tactics employed by defense lawyers, who said Tenorio also had been drinking and was wearing dark clothing and jaywalking.

"When the defense tried to push the responsibility (for the fatal incident) on to my son, I was angry," Rose Tenorio said.

William Tenorio's three children — James, 16, Adrianne, 21, and Dianna, 24 — took turns reading portions of a statement that reflected both their pain and their love for their father.

"This has been an emotionally draining, heart-breaking and unbelievable event," James Tenorio said. "We still can't believe it happened."

The family was left in "disbelief" and felt "helpless and empty" while at the hospital the night of William Tenorio's death. "We were forced to hear last rites before we were ready to let go," he said. James Tenorio called his father's death a "life-changing experience."

"Mr. Fierro's family will still have a chance to see him again," said Dianna Tenorio. "His daughter still has him. We just have beautiful, precious memories."

Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled at his wrists and ankles, Fierro also addressed the court. He first turned toward the Tenorio family and told them he understood their anger toward him. He also said he thinks of William Tenorio daily.

"One of the worst things was (the criminal justice system) wouldn't allow me to convey my condolences to you," he said. "To me, the most important thing is you know I'm sorry. I feel it, it hurts. I made a horrible mistake that night. I have to live with it and I'm gonna live with it. I ask for your forgiveness."

Fierro said he hopes that one day "we can find reconciliation" and that "something positive can come out of his death and my sentence." He said he would like the family to meet his 9-year-old daughter some day.

Fierro also apologized to his own family, many of whom sat crying in the courtroom.

"I'm sorry for the pain I've brought you," he said. "I'm sorry for shaming you. Everything happens for a reason. I'm hoping God will show me that one day."

Judge Vigil told Fierro — who previously worked in Washington D.C. as legislative director for then-Rep. Tom Udall and chief counsel for Sen. John McCain on the Senate Commerce Committee — he could do a lot of good for the community when he gets out of prison.

"You are in a position to be a very powerful tool in our community," he said. "It can happen to anyone. No one starts out the evening saying, 'I'm going to get drunk and kill someone.' You had so many opportunities to avoid this tragedy and you never made the right decision. It's just a shame."

As a result of his felony conviction, Fierro faces disbarment from the practice of law.

Fierro's passenger at the time of the crash — former state police Sgt. Alfred Lovato — is scheduled to appear in state District Court on Monday morning for the continuation of a preliminary hearing that started Oct. 7.

Lovato, an off-duty member of Gov. Bill Richardson's security detail who had spent the night drinking with Fierro, has been charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, the same counts as Fierro.


Correction: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect time when Carlos Fierro might be eligible to leave prison. It has been corrected.