Dylan Molina, 27, pled guilty to intoxication manslaughter and three cases of intoxication assault for the 2021 fatal crash that killed Euless Detective Alejandro “Alex” Cervantes and critically injured his family.
As part of the plea, Tarrant County Magistrate Tamla Ray sentenced Molina to 15 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter and 10 years in prison for each intoxication assault charge. All sentences will run concurrently.
Family and friends – along with Euless and Lake Worth police officers, Tarrant County Sheriff's deputies and more – packed into the CDC 1 courtroom for the plea. The family supported this plea.
It was November 27, 2021, when Molina ran a red light and crashed into a Chevy Impala, killing Det. Cervantes and seriously injuring his wife, Priscilla, and sons Joshua and Jake, at a Lake Worth intersection.
“You affected my life pretty bad because I no longer have a dad to go home to,” Joshua, 13, tearfully told Molina in the courtroom after the sentencing. “It hurts because my dad won’t be there for me when I graduate college or high school or get married.” Joshua said he no longer has his dad to talk to about guy problems or to “try to figure out life and all.”
Priscilla Cervantes, Alex’s widow, said November 27, 2021, always will be the day that turned her life upside down. “I lost my best friend and the love of my life, the person I was supposed to grow old with,” she told Molina in the courtroom.
Not only did Molina rob her of her husband, but he robbed her sons of their father. She said Alex was a wonderful friend, son, husband, father. “He was and forever will be our hero.”
But she said every day is a battle for her.
“I hope every day behind bars is pure agony for you,” Priscilla Cervantes told Molina. “I will never forgive you for as long as I live.”
Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Ashlea Deener, CDA Investigators Marcus Rink and Don Pilcher, and Victim Assistance Coordinator Imelda Lopez worked on this case.
