The young Florida woman who tweeted "2 Drunk 2 Care" just minutes before a deadly head-on collision that killed two on the Sawgrass Expressway was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday.
Kayla Mendoza pleaded guilty in February to two charges of DUI manslaughter in the November 2013 deaths of Kaitlyn Ferrante and her best friend Marisa Catronio, both 21 at the time.
She had been facing a maximum of 30 years in prison. The 22-year-old will also serve six years of probation after her prison sentence and will have a lifetime driving ban.
Before she was sentenced, a tearful Mendoza read a letter in court to ask for forgiveness.
"I know that I have made mistakes and the outcome is so much more than I could ever imagine," she said.
Mendoza also spoke about Ferrante and Catronio.
"No matter how much time passes they will never leave my heart. I think about them everyday and I regret my choices everyday," she said. "I don't remember deciding to drive that night so I can't even tell you what was going through my mind when I made that decision. I have no excuses for anything I've done, I just ask for forgiveness."
The families of Ferrante and Catronio begged the judge for the maximum of 30 years and addressed Mendoza.
"Kayla, you changed all that, you took all those dreams away," mother Christine Ferrante said. "And then I had to make the choice to pull her off of life support, that's something a mother should never have to do."
"How do you forgive someone who's ruined your life and family's lives forever?" brother Justin Catronio said.
Authorities said Mendoza, who was 20 years old at the time, had gone out to a Coral Springs bar after work where she drank two large fish bowl-sized margaritas.
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After the infamous tweet, Mendoza drove her white Hyundai the wrong way on the Sawgrass Expressway and slammed into a red car driven by Ferrante.
It was later discovered that Mendoza was driving with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, according to police.
