SALEM, Mass. — A local man charged with driving drunk and killing a North Andover mother was sent to state prison for six years after pleading guilty Monday to manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol and related charges in a January 2020 crash.
Bradley Zucchino, 31, of Lawrence, was also ordered to spend four years on probation following his release from prison. While on probation, Zucchino was ordered to stay away from the victims in the case and not to drive or drink alcohol.
Testing after the North Andover crash that killed Yahaira Colon, 30, a mother of four, showed Zucchino’s blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit, according to police and court records.
Prosecutors asked for Zucchino to serve eight to 10 years in state prison. But Judge Thomas Drescher, in a court hearing Friday, said he would sentence him to six years in state prison followed by probation if Zucchino were to plead guilty and avoid trial.
Zucchino also pleaded guilty to charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and leaving the scene of an accident that caused personal injury and death.
The trial, previously set for Sept. 23, was expected to last two weeks and involve 25 witnesses.
Zucchino was scheduled to be transported to MCI-Souza Baranowski Correctional Facility in Lancaster after his court hearing Monday.
Dreschler gave him the weekend to decide if he would accept the six-year prison sentence. A lobby conference was held Friday where potential sentences were discussed.
Friday, during that hearing in Salem Superior Court, Zucchino apologized in open court saying he wished he could trade his life for the woman killed and that he’s ready to face the consequences for his actions.
“I know I will never be able to take away your pain. … I deserve to be punished,” he said.
Defense attorney Murat Erkan said Zucchino “has wanted to take responsibility for this since the very beginning. He is grief stricken and anguished.”
“My client made a terrible choice which caused other people to bear the consequences of that choice,” Erkan said.
Zucchino, he said, is now sober and will remain sober.
On Friday the judge also heard victim impact statements from the mother and passenger of Colon who was killed in the Jan. 12, 2020 crash.
Colon’s passenger, Jessica Mercado, suffered multiple serious injuries including a broken hip and femur and a torn aorta.
Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Stanbro on Friday also read a victim impact statement from Betsy Cruz, Colon’s mother, in court. She handed the judge a photo of Colon’s children who are now ages 10, 12, 17 and 18.
Cruz described Colon as a beloved daughter, cherished mother and cornerstone of a family that now struggles without her.
“This tragedy has broken me in ways I never thought possible. … Her children will grow up without the love and guidance of their mother. This is a pain no family should endure,” Cruz wrote in her victim impact statement.
Colon was killed Jan. 12, 2020, after the BMW Zucchino was driving slammed into her Honda SUV near Waverly Road, police said.
Zucchino was also injured in the crash and was visibly bleeding from his nose. He smelled of alcohol and was taken by ambulance to Lawrence General Hospital, police said.
Mercado told investigators she and Colon “were driving down Waverly Road when an oncoming sedan had swerved in their lane out of nowhere,” the police report states.
“Colon attempted to avoid the collision but the oncoming car hit them head on causing them to roll over,” the report continues.
Colon was pronounced dead at Lawrence General Hospital at 11:28 p.m. Mercado was Medflighted to Boston Medical Center for treatment.
Zucchino was outside the car when rescuers arrived. He initially denied being the driver but later told first responders he was behind the wheel, according to court papers.
Previously in the case, Erkan unsuccessfully tried to get Zucchino’s blood alcohol testing suppressed from evidence, saying his client never consented to the testing.
The blood samples, retrieved from Lawrence General Hospital by a North Andover police officer with a search warrant, showed Zucchino’s blood alcohol level was .322 to .326, according to a police report.
The legal limit is .08, per Massachusetts law.
The matter went to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld a superior court judge’s decision in April.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.